


Girls in Love

by BritHistorian



Category: AOA | Ace of Angels, ITZY (Band), IU (Musician), K.Will (Musician) RPF, Let's Eat, Weki Meki (Band)
Genre: Accounting, Bakery, Doctors & Physicians, Emergency room, F/F, Gen, Kidnapping, Martial Arts, Medical Examination, Nurses, Organized Crime, Other, Restaurants, Secret Relationship, dojo - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-04
Updated: 2021-01-17
Packaged: 2021-01-22 13:08:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 23
Words: 51,270
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21302582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BritHistorian/pseuds/BritHistorian
Summary: The members of Weki Meki starring in a non-idol AU!What happens when 8 beautiful women take on the world?  Find out as the members of Weki Meki fall in and out of love, have triumphs and failures, and always ALWAYS have each other's back.Suyeon is an accountant.  Seo-Jeong (Sei) owns a bakery.  Soo-kyung (Lua) owns a restaurant.  So-eun (Rina) is Lua's sous chef.  Yoojung and Doyeon are ER doctors.  Hyo-jung (Lucy) is a nurse in the same ER.  Hae-rim (Elly) is a martial arts instructor with something to hide.Suyeon and Seo-Jeong are roommates.IMPORTANT:  I haven't set in stone which ships will be featured in this story.  If you see the beginnings of a ship you want to see (or just  have a ship you really want to see), leave me a comment or a PM - you might be able to convince me!
Kudos: 12





	1. Out to Dinner

**Author's Note:**

> I'm very much flying by the seat of my pants on this one. I don't even know going in what ships are going to be featured. If you see the start of a ship you want features (or just have a ship you want featured), leave me a comment and try to convince me!

Ji Suyeon, certified public accountant, struggled to juggle her purse, her briefcase, and the bag of ledgers she had brought home from the office as she tried to find her apartment keys in her purse. Miraculously, she managed to pull out the keys and unlock the door without dropping anything. As she let herself into the apartment, she heard her roommate, Lee Seo-jeong, puttering around in the kitchen. "I'm home," she called out, as she took off her shoes and dropped all the things she was carrying in the chair by the door.

"Good," Seo-jeong called back. "You're just in time to taste my newest creation."

Suyeon looked at the clock. "What'd you do, take the bus home from the bakery and then start baking as soon as you get here?"

"Something like that," Seo-jeong called out as she came out of the kitchen. "I had an idea on that way home and I wanted to test it out right away."

Seo-jeong brought a tray of pastries into the living room. She was wearing her favorite blue plaid apron and had a smudge of flour on one cheek.

"Um, I hate to tell you this, but creampuffs have already been invented," Suyeon said. She and Seo-jeong had been friends since before college, so they could tease with each other in ways that no one else was allowed to.

"Ha, ha," Seo-jeong said as she put the tray down on the coffee table. "The profiteroles weren't my invention - the matcha pastry cream inside them was." She stood up, holding a profiterole in each hand, then reached out and stuffed one into Suyeon's mouth.

Suyeon's eyes went wide, first with inability to breathe, then with near-orgasmic pleasure at the deliciousness of Seo-jeong's latest creation. There was a reason that Seo-jeong's bakery had been voted the city's best for three years in a row - Seo-jeong had a gift for baking that no one else could match. She was able to come up with delicious confections that no one had ever thought before, and even when she struck with the classics, her versions put all others to shame.

Suyeon closed her eyes and licked her lips as she finished eating the pastry. "Please tell me those are going on the menu!"

Seo-jeong laughed. "Probably on Thursday. I want to bake a couple more test batches and make sure I've got the recipe just so." She looked over at the bag of ledgers that was threatening to spill off the chair and onto the floor. "Have they got you bringing work home again?"

Suyeon nodded. "One of our biggest customers is being audited next week, so it's all hands on deck to make sure everything's ready. I've even seen some of the senior partners auditing books themselves!"

Seo-jeong opened her eyes wide. "You've seen the senior partners?" she asked in mock-astonishment. "I thought they were mythical, like Bigfoot or the Boogie Man!"

Suyeon laughed. "Oh no, they're far too real," Suyeon said, "And they'll be going over my work with a fine-toothed comb, so as soon as I fix myself some ramen, I've got to buckle down."

Shaking her head, Seo-jeong grabbed Suyeon's arm. Putting on her most serious facial expressionk, she said "I can't let you do that. The kitchen is in no state to be seen right now."

"But-" Suyeon began.

"Tell you what. Let's go to Chez Lua for dinner - my treat, to celebrate the birth of matcha prifiteroles." Seeing Suyeon about to protest, Seo-Jong pressed on before giving her a chance. "Trust me, it'll be quicker than waiting for me to clean the kitchen, and you'll be able to think better after something better for dinner than ramen."

Suyeon rolled her eyes. "Fine," she said. "How soon will you be ready to go?"

Seo-jeong took off her apron and hung it on a hook in the kitchen doorway. "Is that quick enough for you?"

Suyeon laughed. "Let's go."

* * *

Kim Soo-Kyung looked around her kitchen. Everyone - from the sous chef down to the potwasher - was on task on getting and getting amazing food out to the diners. Sometimes owning a restaurant was stressful, but on days like this, it was pure joy. Catching the sous chef's eye, she said "So-eun, you're in charge for a while. I'm going to take a turn around the floor, check on our guests.

Kang So-eun looked up from the stew she was stirring. Using the back of her hand, she wiped a stray strand of hair out of her eyes. "Take your time! Everything back here is running super smooth tonight."

"Don't say that out loud," Soo-Kyung said with a wink, "you'll jinx us." 

Soo-Kyung watched as So-eun handed care of the soup over to one of the assistant chefs, then moved around around to take over at the expediter's station. Stopping only to check her hair in the mirror next to the door, she went out onto the restaurant floor. She had just finished welcoming a young couple who had chosen her restaurant for their first date when she saw Suyeon and Seo-jeong come through the door. She quickly made her way over to them and kissed them both on the cheek. "You're both looking beautiful tonight!" she gushed. Not noticing the blush arising on Suyeon's cheeks, she looked around the restaurant to select a table for them.

"Looks like you're pretty busy tonight," Seo-jeong said, looking in vain for an empty table.

Soo-kyung nodded. "It's a good night. Fortunately, I haven't put anyone at the owner's table yet, so there is a place for you to sit."

"The owner's table?" Suyeon said, backing up half a step. "Oh, no - we couldn't. We'll just come back some time when you're not so busy."

"Nonsense," Soo-kyung said, taking Suyeon's hand and leading her to a table that was within sight of the kitchen door, leaving the Seo-jeong to follow along in their wake. "What's the point of owning a restaurant," Soo-kyung asked, "if you can't seat your friends at the owner's table?"

As they were being seated, Seo-jeong handed Soo-kyung a small box that she had been carrying. "I brought this for you," she said. "It's a little something new I whipped up this afternoon." 

Soo-kyung looked inside the box and practically vibrated with joy after seeing the profiteroles in it. "They look delicious. And they smell-" she took a deep breath- "like matcha!"

Seo-jeong nodded. "Guessed it in one! They go on the menu Thursday, but I can let you have a small sample on Wednesday to serve to your VIPs." Seo-jeong's bakery supplies all the pastry for Chez Lua, an arrangement that helped boost both businesses.

"Sounds great!" Soo-kyung said. "I'll try coming up with a special matcha-themed dish for the occasion! Anyway. . ." she looked over at Suyeon, "what were you thinking for dinner tonight?"

Suyeon glanced over at the blackboard listing the day's specials. "Oh good," she said, "the kimchi sujebi is still on the menu! I'd like that."

Seo-jeong rolled her eyes at the simplicity of her friend's tastes. "Just feed us," she said to Soo-kyung. "You know what's best tonight."

"You got it," Soo-kyung said, turning to head back to the kitchen. "Your first appetizers should be out soon."

Once Soo-kyung was safely out of hearing, Suyeon turned to Seo-jeong. "Why'd you tell her to just feed us! You know she'll insist on giving us the tasting menu and it'll take two hours for us to finish with dinner. If you'd let me get the kimchi sujebi, we could be out of here and on our way back home in half an hour!"

"Which is exactly why I didn't let you get the kimchi sujebi," Seo-jeong said. "You eat enough bad meals when you eat at your office. If I'm treating you to dinner, I'm going to be sure you get a good dinner."

Suyeon was about to protest, but upon seeing the look of concern on Seo-Jeong's face, she relented. "Okay, fine. I'll eat whatever you want. But after dinner I've got to go straight back to the apartment and get to work. In fact, I-"

Whatever Suyeon was about to say was interrupted by Soo-kyung bringing them their first appetizers: Fried anchovies, kelp salad, two different kinds of kimchi, and a couple of vegetables that Suyeon didn't recognize at first glance. "Oh, and guess what?" Soo-kyung said, as if there had been no interruption in their conversation. "Guess who else is eating here tonight? Mr. Foodie!" Upon seeing the blank looks of incomprehension on their faces, she elaborated. "Hello? Mr. Foodie? Only the biggest food blogger in Seoul! You've heard of him: He's the one who always posts pictures of the empty plates after he finishes eating." Seeing that they still didn't know he was talking about, she threw her hands up frustration. "Well, just believe me - it's one of the biggest things that can happen to a restaurant, to be a subject of a Mr. Foodie review. And I got word from someone who knows someone who knows Mr. Foodie that he's going to be coming here tonight!"

"Oh. . . um. . . " Suyeon said, overwhelmed by all of this, "that's great! But. . . um. . . if this Mr. Food. . ."

"Mr. Foodie," Soo-kyung corrected.

"Mr. Foodie," Suyeon pressed on. "If Mr. Foodie is coming here tonight, are you sure you should be serving us the tasting menu. Really, I'd be fine with the kimchi subjebi, so you can focus on him."

Soo-kyung scoffed. "I've already got six tables who've ordered the tasting menu tonight, one of them an eight-topper, so adding you two on is really no extra work. Besides, no one knows what Mr. Foodie looks like, so it's not like I can spot him and give him extra attention, so I need all the distractions I can get so I'm not worrying about it. Besides, the tasting menu includes kimchi sujebi - it's part of the fourth course. Now eat up - your second course will be out soon." And just as suddenly as she'd appeared, she was gone again. 


	2. Minor Emergencies

Noh Hyo-jung rapped softly on the doorframe. "Doctor, you said you wanted to know when she came back."

Dr. Kim Doyeon didn't look up from the laceration she was suturing. "She's back."

Hyo-jung took half a step in the exam room. "Yes. It's her shoulder this time. She's in exam room B. Dr. Choi ordered x-rays, and I told her you would want to take over this patient for reasons of continuity of care."

Doyeon finished suturing and looked up at Hyo-Jung. "Oh, I bet she just loved that." Dr. Choi Yoojung, the ER's chief resident, was a prickly as she was short, and wasn't going to like a nurse telling her what to do with the patient.

Hyo-jung shuddered. "I wouldn't go to sleep in the residents' room anytime soon if I were you."

Doyeon laughed. "I'll make it up to her - it'll be fine. In the meantime, give Mr. Kim here a tetanus shot and standard laceration discharge orders and he's good to go."

As Hyo-jung took over Mr. Kim's care, Doyeon headed for exam room B, stopping only to pick up the patient's x-rays at the nursing station. As she entered the exam room, she saw that the patient was already getting dressed and getting ready to go.

"Jung Hae-rim," Doyeon said, reading the name off the label in the corner of the x-ray. "Trying to keep up your perfect record of leaving against medical advice every time you come to this ER?"

"Well," Hae-rim said, wincing as she tried to put her right arm in her sleeve, "I figured it's not broken or you would have been in to splint me already."

"As it turns out," Doyeon said, as she opened the storage cabinet to pull out a splinting kit, "your right arm is broken, we're just very busy today." She gently guided Hae-rim back to the exam table and started examining her right arm. She noticed a series of bruises compatible with someone grabbing her upper arm and pulling on it. "This must have hurt a lot."

Hae-rim started to shrug, thought better of it, then said "I've had worse."

Doyeon let out a grim laugh. "I know - I've seen your x-rays. And yet you always leave without letting us help you. Why is that?"

Hae-rim actually did shrug this time, then winced in pain. "I always figure if it's something really serious, someone will call me once you see the x-rays. I've got too many things going on to spend all night in the ER."

Doyeon started applying the brace to Haerim's left upper arm. "Do you feel safe?" she asked. "Are you afraid to go home?"

Hae-rim scoffed. "No. I'm not a battered woman, if that's what you're thinking. I'm a taekwondo instructor, and sometimes sparring gets a little overly vigorous."

Doyeon finished applying the brace, then helped Hae-rim get her shirt back on. "Seventeen ER presentations in the past year strikes me as a little bit beyibd 'overly vigorous.' And besides, I don't see all the other taekwondo instructors coming in here every few weeks. You take care of yourself. Or if you won't, at least let me take care of you."

Hae-rim blushed as she nodded and said she would. For a chance she actually stuck around for long enough to get her discharge orders, which a nurse delivered along with a prescription for some pain medicine that she had no intention of filling. In her line of work, she couldn't afford anything that would mess with her thinking. She left the ER as quickly as she could, driving to a tiny apartment in a nondescript officetel, instead of her more luxurious apartment over her gym, by a circuitous route with a couple of random turns and one doubling back to try to evade anyone who might be following her. Once she was inside the apartment, she laid down on the futon without even getting undressed, trying to put everything out of her mind, including how careless she'd been to get injured like this and how difficult it was going to be to teach three classes tomorrow afternoon.

* * *

At the end of her shift, Doyeon was in the residents' room changing from her scrubs to her street clothes when Choi Yoojung came over and confronted her.

"What are you doing poaching my patients?" Yoojung asked. "Didn't I tell you to stay in Minor Injuries tonight?"

"And what patient am I supposed to have poached?" Doyeon asked, deliberately playing dumb.

"You know perfectly well what patient you poached!" Yoojung sputtered, the color rising in her cheeks. "Jung Hae-rim."

"Jung Hae-rim should have been my patient from the moment she walked into the ER tonight," Doyeon responded. "She's had 17 ER visits in the past year, I saw her for 11 of those, and tonight I finally managed to convince her to stay long enough to get proper discharge planning. It's called 'continuity of care' and 'building a therapeutic alliance.' You should try it sometime."

Yoojung's eyes narrowed and she exhaled noisily through her nose. "Or maybe it's called 'developing inappropriate feelings for patients.' You watch yourself, Doyeon, or I'll have you sitting in Minor Injuries for the rest of your residency. And that goes for Hyo-jung too - don't think I don't know you're trying to get the nurses on your side, and if Hyo-jung's taken your side, she can say good-bye to any chance of ever being promoted to charge nurse."

"If it's what you're saying, then it sounds like things have gone over your head and we need to go discuss this with Dr. Lee." As she said this, Doyeon finished getting dressed and grabbed her scrubs to put in the laundry cart on the way out. She paused a moment to hear Yoojung's response.

Yoojung stood silently, her mouth opening and closing but no words coming out. "No," she finally said, "I don't think it's quite that bad. But you watch yourself Doyeon!" And with that she turned on her heel and stalked out of the residents' room.

Doyeon smiled to herself as she tossed her scrubs in the laundry cart. Tonight's score: Doyeon 1, Yoojung 0. "What in the world was Dr. Lee thinking when she made Yoojung chief resident?" she thought to herself. "If there's anyone more likely to fly off the handle over the smallest things, I've certainly never met them. I think I'd better talk with Dr. Lee anyway, though - if Hyo-jung's already been promoted to charge nurse, there's no way Yoojung can stop her from getting promoted to charge nurse." Doyeon sighed. Once again, she was having to throw herself on a grenade to protect her patients and her nurses from Yoojung's pettiness.

* * *

Suyeon looked out her bedroom window and saw the sky in the east just starting to lighten. She silently closed Sei's door on her way to the kitchen to turn on the coffee machine. Grabbing her coffee and a bowl of rice, she want to the living room to finish up the ledgers she hadn't audited last night. She figured she had just enough time to be done with them before time to head in to the office. She would have liked to have finished them all the night before, but Sei was right: She needed a break and a proper meal, especially since this audit was likely to last for several weeks.

She paused for a moment before opening the ledger, remembering what a great time she and Sei had had at Chez Lua. Soo-kyung's cooking had been delicious, as always. Suyeon especially relished the memory of the delicious kimchi sujebi that had been part of the fourth course - and the way that Sei had tried to be inconspicious about eating the other items in that course so that Suyeon could have most of the sujebi. 

"I really do have the best friends," Suyeon thought to herself as she put down her coffee and picked up a pen. She opened volume 75 of the ledgers - so far nothing interested had turned up, but you never know when things might get exciting. She had finished volume 75 and was well into volume 76 when she heard Sei's door open. She looked up just as Sei walked into the living room, yawning.

"Good morning, sleepyhead!" Suyeon said.

Sei laughed. "You're just saying that because it's your one chance a year to get to say that. You know I'm normally the first one up. Today I slept in because I know I'll have a late night - I'm supplying cake and petit fours to the Mayor's Gala, so don't look for me this evening. If I'm lucky, I'll be home by 1 and able to get a couple of hours of sleep before getting up to start tomorrow's baking."

"And if you decide to just go crash at the bakery, text me so I'm not worried about you," Suyeon said, tucking her pen behind her ear and closing the ledgers.

"All right Mom!" Sei said. "And I'll look both ways before crossing the street, and I won't talk to strangers." They bother laughed at this. "Seriously, though," Sei went on, "I hope I don't end up crashing at the bakery tonight, but if I do, I'll be sure to text you, even though you'll certainly be asleep."

"As if I could sleep when you're out wandering around the city in the middle of the night," Suyeon thought.


	3. Preparations and Consequences

Soo-kyung looked around the kitchen. She'd finished shopping for the day and had put everything where her cooks would be able to find it for tonight's dinner service. Now it was time for one of her favorite parts of the day - making the day's menu. She took down the blackboard in the dining room, wiped it clean, and put it on the owner's table. She made herself a cup of tea while she waited for the blackboard to dry. She sat down and drank her tea while she thought about all the things she had bought at the market that morning. Together with the kitchen staples, it was like a sliding puzzle. She had to use the ingredients at hand to make eight entrees and a dozen banchan, without ignoring any ingredient and without relying too heavily on any ingredient. Once she was sure she had everything planned out properly, she took out a new stick of chalk and started writing the menu, her handwriting clear and confident. She was about halfway through when a shadow fell across where she writing. She looked up and saw So-eun had just walked into the restaurant, her knife roll tucked under her arm, her chef jacket immaculately white. How So-eun managed to keep her jacket so clean while riding the bus every day was a mystery to Soo-kyung, but somehow she managed it.

"Good morning chef!" So-eun called out. "Mussels on the menu today?"

Soo-kyung brushed back a stray strand of hair and tucked it behind her ear. "I thought about mussels," she said, as she resumed writing the menu, "but then I saw the weather report. It's going to turn colder a couple of days from now - that's when the mussels will be at their peak. Thursday morning I'll go down to the docks and buy mussels fresh off the boats."

"Ooh! Can I go with you?" So-eun was practically jumping up and down with excitement.

Soo-kyung smiled at her assistant's enthusiasm, but just couldn't resist teasing her a little bit. "Why? You developing a taste for sailors?"

So-eun pouted. "No. I just - I want to learn everything I can from you, so that someday I can start my own place."

Soo-kyung smiled. "Okay. Be here Thursday morning at 6 a.m. I'll also need you to come in early Monday morning."

"Why? Do you need me to do the shopping Monday?"

Soo-kyung looked up at her assistant, squinting at the sunlight streaming in from the windows behind her. "I figured you'd want to, since you'll be the one writing the menu for Monday."

So-eun gasped with excitement. "I'll be cooking my menu on Monday?"

Soo-kyung nodded. "I'll still be expediting. It'll still be my kitchen. But we'll be cooking from your menu." 

So-eun rushed forward and caught Soo-kyung up in a hug. "Thank you, unnie!"

Soo-kyung laughed. "Don't thank me yet. I'll be watching you like a hawk, and I won't hesitate to give the potwasher the night off and add his duties to yours."

"Don't worry, I won't let you down." So-eun went into the kitchen, put her knife roll down at her station and started unpacking it, putting every piece of equipment in its proper place. Her own menu! It was just one step from that to Soo-kyung letting her take over the kitchen for a night! And then just one step from that to doing a pop-up under her own name! She was already starting to plan, wanting to be sure that nothing went wrong, even though she knew that Soo-kyung was joking about giving the potwasher the night off. Well, thought she was joking. Or. . . hoped, really. Her stomach did a flip-flop. This would the biggest challenge she'd faced since passing her chef licensing exams. She leaned against the counter, lost in thought, lulled into a sense of calmness by the scratching of Soo-kyung's chalk coming from the dining room.

* * *

After lunch, Yoojung was standing in the hallway outside Dr. Lee's office, waiting impatiently for the door to open. She'd calmed down some since the night before - her plan now was to have Doyeon confined to Minor Injuries for a week and Hyo-jung kept out of a charge nurse position for as long as possible, rather than trying to have both conditions made permanent - but she was still upset at Doyeon for not listening her, and at Hyo-jung for helping and encouraging Doyeon to not listen. Surely Dr. Lee would see the importance of maintaining the chain of command.

She was suddenly started out of her thoughts by Dr. Lee's office door opening and Doyeon coming out. "Thank you so much!" Doyeon was saying. Yoojung smirked. "We'll just see how thankful Doyeon is after Dr. Lee hears what I have to say," she thought.

"Good afternoon, Yoojung!" Doyeon said brightly as she passed.

Yoojung was so thrown by Doyeon's good mood that it was all Yoojung could do to sputter out her own "Good afternoon!"

From inside the office, Yoojung heard Dr. Lee's voice. "Good afternoon, Yoojung! Come on in, we've got a lot to talk about."

Taking a moment to throw her shoulders back and hold her head higher, Yoojung strode into Dr. Lee's office. As always, she was struck silent for the first couple of moments after walking in - she just didn't know how it was possible for someone to be as beautiful as Dr. Lee. If everyone had skin as smooth as hers, the dermatology department would be closed down for lack of work. Yoojung had seen how Dr. Lee's eyes would flash and her face would harden when she got angry, but under normal circumstances, her face was soft and beautiful and led one to think thoughts that weren't entirely appropriate for the workplace. She knew nothing could ever come of it, but she'd give so much just to touch Dr. Lee's face. Shaking off her feelings, Yoojung greeted her with "Good afternoon, Dr. Lee."

Dr. Lee laughed. "Yoojung, you're not my student anymore, you're my colleague. A junior colleague, but still a colleague. Call me Ji-eun."

"Okay, Ji-Eun," Yoojung said, trying to keep her voice from shaking.

"I was just telling Doyeon," Dr. Lee - Ji-Eun - said without preamble "that I've already gone over all your chart notes from last night. I've made some changes in the postings in the ER, and I wanted to be sure to go over them with you before tonight's shift. Have a seat." She nodded her head toward the office's second chair.

Doyeon sat down and pulled out her work notebook. Opening it to a blank page, she pulled out a pen. "What changes are you making?" she asked nervously, wishing she'd been able to talk to Ji-Eun before Doyeon had gotten to her. She was just certain that Doyeon had managed to spin the previous night's events in a way that made herself look good and made Yoojung look bad.

"Well," Ji-eun said, opening up her own notebook, "I think most of your assignments are very good - for the most part, you're doing a good job of using people in the places they'll be the most effective. It's really just a couple of changes I wanted to make."

"O-kay." Yoojung nodded hesitantly.

"I'm moving Doyeon to Psychiatric and Chronic Illness. She has a gift for communicating with patients that really isn't used in its fullest in Minor Injuries. And I'm promoting Noh Hyo-jung to charge nurse. She'll be with you at Central Station most of time, and if you get called to Major Trauma, she'll go with you as your nurse." Ji-Eun closed her notebook and set it down on her desk. "I haven't told anyone about these changes yet - I thought I'd give you the honor." She fixed Yoojung with a smile that almost made her forget how bad the situation was - Doyeon and Hyo-jung were being rewarded for their insubordination!

Jooyong nodded quietly, collected her thoughts for a moment, then looked up at Ji-Eun. "I had wanted to talk to you about Doyeon's performance last night on Jung Hae-rim's case. . ."

"Oh, Doyeon's already told me all about that," Ji-Eun said, clapping her hands together. "I think it's great that she showed such initiative and consequently was able to make a breakthrough with a difficult patient. And she told me that you had been about to take Ms. Jung's case when she first came in. Not a lot of chief residents would have the self-confidence to step aside and let a junior resident handle a case like that, but I agree with Doyeon, it showed excellent judgment on your part and really helps to instill loyalty and confidence in your subordinates."

Yoojung was struck silent. Loyalty and confidence? She had no idea that any of the junior residents or the nurses felt that way about her. In fact, if you had asked her, she'd have said they were just looking for a chance to undercut her authority. Well, maybe they were - she'd still be keeping an eye on them. "Yes," she said tentatively, "since Doyeon had so much experience with Ms. Jung, I was hoping that would be of use last night, and it turned out it was."

Ji-Eun smiled. "It's even better than that! Not only did Ms. Jung stay to receive her discharge orders last night, I checked with Scheduling and she's already called to make the 3-week followup appointment that Doyeon asked her to make."

Yoojung smiled weakly. "That is good! And with such a difficult patient!" She wasn't as excited about this turn of events as Ji-Eun was, but she still had a grudging sense of admiration for Doyeon's success.

"Well, listen to me just rambling on and eating up all your time," Ji-eun said. I'd better let you go so that you can tell Doyeon and Hyo-jung about their new assignments. In fact, why don't you take the department credit card and take them out to dinner." She grabbed a piece of paper from the back of her desk and scrawled something indecipherable on it. "Give that to the secretary and she'll give you the card. Now, you'd better get going if you're going to have time to eat before the start of your shift."

Yoojung stood up and bowed slightly - old habits die hard - and said, "Thank you for taking such an interest in my work. I really appreciate it."

Ji-Eun smiled warmly. "Of course, Yoojung. I know I expect a lot of you, but only because I think you'll be able to live up to that." 

As Yoojung walked down the hall to the ER, she kept replaying Ji-Eun's praise in her head. Having heard that, it almost didn't bother her that she was on her way to reward Doyeon and Hyo-jung. "And besides," she thought to herself, "at least something came out of this - instead of working with Doyeon, Hyo-jung will be working with me now. If nothing else, I'll know they're not working together against me."


	4. Lunch and dinner

Suyeon scowled ats the clouds overhead, then adjusted her grip on the bag of gimbaps and bottles of juice she'd bought at the convenience store and rushed down the sidewalk, intent on getting to Seo-jeong's bakery and back during her lunch break. She was so intent on where she was going that she didn't notice a slippery patch on the sidewalk until her foot came down on it and proceeded slide out from under her. Struggles to stay upright quickly turned into struggles to find the best way to fall until suddenly she stopped mere inches from the ground. Wondering who had caught her, she looked over her shoulder and saw a smiling blonde holding her up with one arm, seemingly not noticing Suyeon's weight at all. Suyeon scrambled to her feet so as not to stress her benefactress's endurance, especially once she saw that the woman's other arm was in a brace of some sort. She bowed quickly and struggled to regain her composure..

The blonde smiled at Suyeon, a smile that seemed to brighten up the whole world. "I'm Jung Hae-rim," she said. 

As she introduced herself, Suyeon noticed that Hae-rim hadn't let go her arm.

"You were obviously in a hurry to get someplace," Hae-rim said. "I happen to be heading the same way, so if you don't mind, I'll walk along with you, to be sure you're okay."

Suyeon blushed. "Thank you, but that's really not necessary."

Hae-rim flashed that billion-won smile again. "Like I said, I'm heading the same way, and I'd rather walk with you than alone, if you don't mind."

Suyeon nodded, uncertainly. "I'm rushing to bring lunch to my friend at her bakery," she said, as she started off again, with Hae-rim still holding gently to her arm.

"So what do you do when you're not delivering lunch to bakers?" Haerim asked, looking over Suyeon, taking in everything from her low-healed shoes to her tasteful business suit to her stylish but conservative hairstyle.

"Oh. . . um. . ." Suyeon began awkwardly as she managed to extra a business card from the jacket pocket and hand it to Hae-rim without slowing her forward motion. "I'm an accountant. And what about you? What do you do when you're not catching strangers on the sidewalk?"

"When I'm not rescuing damsels in distress, you mean," Hae-rim corrected her with a laugh. She pulled a card out of her leather vest and handed it to Suyeon. "I'm a taekwondo and self-defense instructor. So I suppose you could say that even in my day job I'm rescuing damsels in distress - I'm teaching an introductory class in self-defense for woman at 7 tonight. I'd like it if you tried it out - first class is free!"

"And then when you've got me hooked. . ." Suyeon teased.

"There are certainly worse things to be hooked on than martial arts," Hae-rim said. "It's good exercise, you meet really nice people, and you're learning a useful skill."

"Not to mention I'd have you as my instructor," Suyeon thought before shaking her head to banish this thought. 

Thinking Suyeon was shaking her head no, Hae-rim said "Well, if you change your mind, the address is on the card. Class starts at 7. Wear something comfy that'll let you move around easily." Seeing that they had just reached the front of Seo-jeong's bakery, Hae-rim added "And unless I'm mistaken, this is where you're headed. I hope I see you at the class tonight, and if not, I wish you well. Be careful."

"If I don't have to work late tonight, I might check it out," Suyeon said. "Accountants don't really get a lot of exercise, and it sounds better than going to the gym and spending 45 minutes on an exercise bike."

Hae-rim smiled again. "Like I said, I hope to see you. Bye!"

Suyeon waved good-bye, still clutching Hae-rim's business card in her hand, before turning and going into Seo-jeong's bakery. Seo-jeong came out of the bakery just in time to see Hae-rim wave at Suyeon through the window and walk off.

"Who was that?" Seo-jeong asked excitedly, her eyes wide.

"Oh, she's a taekwondo instructor I met on the way over her. I would have fallen down and dropped your lunch if she hadn't caught me."

Grabbing Suyeon's hand and pulling her toward the back of the shop, Seo-jeong said "While I'm eating - thank you for lunch, by the way, that's so sweet! - anyway, while I'm eating, you're going to tell me everything that happened with this mysterious woman.'

"There's really not much to tell," Suyeon began as she launched into her story.

By the time Seo-jeong had finished her gimbap, Suyeon had finished her story and Seo-jeong's eyes were wide again. "Ji Suyeon, if you don't go to that class tonight, I'm never speaking to you again!"

Suyeon waved her off. "It's not like that. It's just a routine sale; it doesn't mean anything."

Seo-jeong stood up, incredulous. "Doesn't mean anything? Suyeon, she asked you three times in the course of two minutes to come to this class. You've got to go!"

Suyeon looked up at her over-excited friend. "Okay, okay. If it's the only way I'll get any peace, I'll go.

"Now that's more like it," Seo-keong said, sitting down again. "What are you going to wear?"

Suyeon shrugged. "She said to dress comfy. I'll probably just wear some of my workout clothes."

"Like hell you will!" Seo-jeong shouted, jumping up and rushing to get her purse from under the register. "You're going to go to the Lululemon shop straight after work and buy yourself some new yoga pants and a new T-shirt." As she turned back to Suyeon, she pulled out a credit card and handed it over. "Happy belated birthday!"

Trying in vain to hand back the card, Suyeon protested "You already got me a birthday present!"

"Then happy early birthday for next year! Happy belated Memorial Day! Happy early friggin' Hangeul Proclamation Day! I don't care what! I just want to do this for you, Suyeon. It's been forever since you had a date and I really want to do this for you."

"It's not a date. . ." Suyeon protested.

"Sure, totally not a date," Seo-jeong said with a laugh. "Totally not. I saw how she was looking at you! Text me if you're not coming home tonight!"

Suyeon rolled her eyes. "Thanks for the clothes, but I still don't think it's a date."

"We'll see..." Seo-jeong said as she cleaned up from her lunch. "But for now, I think we've both got to get back to work."

Suyeon looked at her watch. "Oh, shit. I should have left already! It'll be a miracle if I'm not late! Bye!" And with that, she rushed out of the bakery and down the street, leaving Seo-jeong staring after her.

* * *

Yoojung walked into the residents' room just as Doyeon was starting to change into her scrubs. "Don't get into your scrubs yet," she said. On seeing the surprised look on Doyeon's face, she elaborated "I'm talking you and Hyo-jung out to dinner before our shift starts. Dr. Lee's orders."

They had gathered up Hyo-jung and were on their way down the sidewalk before she gave Doyeon a chance to respond.

"Are you going to tell us what the occasion is behind this surprise dinner?" Doyeon asked.

"Oh, I had a meeting with Dr. Lee this afternoon," Doyeon began, indicating that they should go into a restaurant called "Chez Lua."

"You had a meeting with Dr. Lee," Hyo-jung prompted her once they hostess had them seated.

Yoojung nodded. "Exactly. I had a meeting with Dr. Lee and she had a lot to say about last night's events. She was very proud of you for getting Jung Hae-rim to stay long enough to get discharge orders. So proud of you that she ordered some changes in tonight's work assignments. More or less promotions, you might as well say, so she instructed me to take you two out to dinner to celebrate."

Doyeon and Hyo-jung looked at each other, and then back at Yoojung, their suprise evident on their face. "Promotions?" Doyeon asked.

Jooyung nodded, her satisfaction evident on her face. "Doyeon, you're getting out of Minor Injuries. Dr. Lee told me to move you to Psychiatric and Chronic Illness."

Doyeon sputtered. "Psychiatry and Chronic Illness? That's - I mean - it's not Major Trauma, but it beats the hell out of Minor Injuries!" Looking at Hyo-jung, she went on. "You said promotions. . . . What about Hyo-jung?"

"That's the best part," Yoojung said, her pleasure evident on her face. Raising her glass of water, she turned to Hyo-jung. "Noh Hyo-jung, congratulations - you've been promoted to charge nurse! You'll be working with me at Central Station." Taking a drink of her water, Yoojung put her glass down just as the waiter arrived with their food.

Doyeon and Hyo-jung looked at other. Hyo-jung raised her eyebrows slightly, and Doyeon nodded slightly in response. They both smiled - in thinking she was playing office politics, Yoojung had accidentally played herself. Moving Doyeon to Psychiatric and Chronic Illness and Hyo-jung to Central Station would certainly prevent them from conspiring against her - if there had ever been a conspiracy against her. Which there hadn't. Instead, Doyeon and Hyo-jung each got something they wanted, at a price of something they never wanted to begin with. It probably wouldn't do to let Yoojung know this, though.

"So," Doyeon began, as she picked up her chopsticks and grabbed a piece of pork belly, "if Hyo-jung is promoted to charge nurse, who's going to be my nurse?"

Yoojung finished chewing the food that was in her mouth. "I don't know - that's not really my decision. That's sort of a charge nurse decision." She turned to Hyo-jung. "Do you know of one of the floaters who'd be a good nurse for Doyeon?"

Hyo-jung looked up from the piece of pork belly that she was wrapping in a lettuce leaf - with two doctors present, she hadn't expected that anyone would want her opinion. "I think I know just the nurse - she's a new graduate, but she's a hard worker and I think she'd do well working for Doyeon - Shin Yuna."

Yoojung almost choked on a piece of pork belly. "Yuna?" It was said of some of the nurses that they only earned an R.N. as a way to earn an M.r.s., and that once they'd married a doctor, they'd never work again. Yoojung had thought Yuna was one of that sort.

Hyo-jung nodded. "Don't believe the rumors you hear about her," she said, more to Doyeon than Yoojung. "Last week she assisted Dr. Choi in placing a G-tube and he said it was almost like she was reading his mind, that he couldn't remember the last time he'd had such a good assistant."

Yoojung added some kimchi to the piece of pork belly she was wrapping in lettuce. As she chewed, she allowed herself a small inward smile of satisfaction. She didn't really want Doyeon and Hyo-jung to do badly; she just didn't want them doing well to get in the way of her running the ER the way she wanted to. With Dr. Lee's promotions, it seemed that she'd managed to keep them out of her hair for quite a while.

When the waiter came back to check on them, Doyeon asked "Is Kim Soo-kyung in the kitchen tonight?" On being reassured that she was, she asked "Can you tell her that Kim Doyeon is in her dining room?"

Within moments of this news being delivered, Soo-kyung came out of the kitchen, her arms extended for a hug. Doyeon jumped up to meet her and they exchanged hugs and air kisses. 

"Wait," Yoojung said, confused, "you know the owner of this restaurant?"

Doyeon nodded, her arm around Soo-kyung's shoulders. "She was my roommate in university! Back then she is known for cooking the most delicious hot plate ramen in the dorm, and now look at her, owner of her own restaurant!"

"Soon to be my own famous restaurant," Soo-kyung said. On seeing Doyeon's curious look, she elaborated. "Word in the restaurant grapevine is that Mr. Foodie ate here last night!"

"Mr. Food?" Hyo-jung asked, confused.

"No, Mr. Foodie," Yoojung corrected her, pulling up the blog on her phone. "He goes to restaurants and posts reviews along with pictures of his empty plates. If one of your favorite restaurants gets reviewed by Mr. Foodie, it's going to be crowded from then on - anyone who cares about good food reads Mr. Foodie's blog."

Soo-kyung nodded enthusaistically. "If you had turned up here after his review posted, there's no way you would have been able to get a table without a long wait." Turning back to Doyeon, she gave her one more hug before saying "Well, as much as I'd love to stay and chat, I've got a kitchen full of chefs who are counting on me to keep them on course. Call me sometime!"

As Soo-kyung left and Doyeon settled in to finish her meal, Yoojung looked at her incredulously. "Is there anyone in this city you don't know?"

Doyeon laughed. "I can't help it," she said. "I've lived here all my life and I'm just naturally friendly."

Yoojung started thinking that perhaps she'd mis-understood Doyeon. Or maybe not. Either way, it would pay to get Doyeon on her side.


	5. What are you doing here?

Hae-rim sat in her office and watched Jackson put the students for that evening's self-defense class through some simple warm-up exercises. She knew that she'd have to go out and start the class soon, but she just wasn't ready to start.

"Because you're waiting for Ji Suyeon, and you need to stop it," she scolded herself. And she was right; she just hated to admit it. But the fact was that with all the events going on in her life, with all the secrets she had to keep, there wasn't room for a relationship. It might not even be safe for anyone she was in a relationship with. "Why does it have to be a relationship?" she asked herself. "Maybe it could just be a little fling. I'm still allowed to have fun, right?" But as soon as she'd had this thought, she knew that it was wrong - Si Juyeon didn't seem like the sort of woman who could be just a short-term fling, and that's one of the things she found interesting about her. 

The clock on her desk clicked over to 7:00 with a soft click.

"Time to start class," she said to herself. She stood up, smoothed out her uniform, and turned toward the door. Just then, a movement out in the dojo caught her eye: The door was opening and someone was coming in. She stopped to see who it was, at the same time scolding herself for hoping it was Ji Suyeon. But when she saw that it was Suyeon, a smile spread across her face. She headed out into the dojo just in time to catch the tail end of Suyeon apologizing to Jackson for being late to the class.

"Well, you only missed the warm-up," she said, capturing Suyeon's attention. "Jackson, go suit up." 

As Jackson left the room, Hae-rim gathered all the students around her and started into her standard pre-class spiel. "I want you all to remember that one class isn't going to turn you into a martial artist. And even if it did, the first rule of self defense is to not let yourself get into a situation where you might need to defend yourself. Always be aware of your surroundings, and if you see something that strikes you as wrong, put yourself on guard against it." She noticed that Suyeon was staring intently at her, as if trying to memorize the speech.

Just then she heard Jackson come into the room behind her, and the students looked up to see what they noise was. She didn't have to turn around to know what they were seeing - she and Jackson taught this class at least once a month. Jackson would be in the attacker simulation suit, which means he would look like the offspring of a bear and sumo wrestler, covered in mashmallows. Smiling at her students, she said "This is our attacker simulation suit. Jackson will be playing the role of the attacker in all of our exercises tonight, and this suit means you can attack him with your full strength, so you'll know what your full strength feels like and you won't be tempted to pull your punches in an actual survival situation. Now, let's get started. I need a volunteer to go first - all right, you in the red shirt. What you need to do is. . ."

They went through scenarios where the attacker approached from the front, from the side, from behind, while they were at an ATM, while they were getting into a car - basically every scenario she had been able to think of. The class went well until close to the end. Suyeon was doing a scenario where she was supposed to push Jackson in the chest as hard as she could, then turn and run in the opposite direction as fast as she could. It looked like a textbook execution until Suyeon ran into one of the pillars holding up the ceilding of the dojo (and Hae-rim's apartment above that). She fell backwards, apparently unconscious. Hae-rim rushed over to check on her. She was still breathing, but she wouldn't open her eyes.

"Okay, class is over," Hae-rim called out. "Jackson, make sure we've got everyone's contact info so we can reschedule the rest of the training." Then she pulled out her phone and dialed emergency services. "Hello, this is Jung Hae-rim at Jung Taekwondo. One of my students ran into a pillar and knocked herself out. We need an ambulance." She made sure the operator had the correct address, then sat down by Suyeon, holding her hand, waiting for the ambulance to show up.

* * *

Two hours in and the Mayor's Gala was going smoothly. The cake had been set up, waiting for the mayor and his wife to cut it later in the night. And petit fours were flying out of the staging area as quickly as Seo-jeong could get them onto trays and hand the trays of waiters and waitresses. She was working intently when she heard a familiar voice in front of her.

"Hi Seo-jeong!" 

She looked up and saw So-eun, Soo-kyun's sous chef, wearing a tuxedo and apparently waiting to receive a tray of petit fours.

"Hi!" Seo-jeong glanced up and then went back to arranging petit fours. "So you're working as a cater waiter now? Does Soo-kyung know?"

So-eun shook her head. "No. You aren't going to tell her, are you?"

Seo-jeong looked at her. "Get around on this side of the table and help me unpack petit fours."

Once they'd unpacked most of the petit fours, Seo-jeong asked So-eun "So, what's up with this? Do I need to have a talk with Soo-kyung about paying you more?"

So-eun waved her hands excitedly, "No, no! She's doing fine. This is just - I want to have my own restaurant one day, so I work this job a few nights a month and the money I make goes directly into a savings account to help start my restaurant."

Seo-jeong nodded. "That sounds like a good idea. And don't worry, I won't tell Soo-kyung. But I see your supervisor heading this way - you'd better grab a tray of petit-fours and hit the floor. Thanks for helping me, and good luck on your restaurant!"

So-eun grabbed a tray of petit-fours and headed out just before she had a chance to get in trouble for wasting time, and for the rest of the evening, whenever she came back for more petit-fours, she and Seo-Jeong shared a quick smile.

At about 10:00, the Master of Ceremonies came back into the kitchen, found Seo-jeong and said "They're ready to cut the cake! Are you ready to do your part?"

"Sure!" Seo-jeong stood up, straightened her chef's jacket, then reached under the table to pull a sword out of her supplies. She and the MC got back into the ballroom just as the mayor announced "and so, I am pleased and proud to announce that at this event, we have raised 1 billion, 250 million won! I thank you, the boys' and girls' clubs thank you, and the senior citizens' center thanks you!" 

Seo-jeong handed the sword to the mayor, who used it to make the ceremonial first cut of the cake. Seo-jeong stashed the sword under the cake table, then stood up and started cutting and serving the cake. The next hour was a blur - cake-plate-cake-plate - but eventually she had the entire cake plated and was able to step back to the kitchen for a break until it was time to break down the cake table, pack up her supplies, and head back to the bakery. Yeah, she was definitely going to be sleeping at the bakery tonight.

She was leaning against a wall relaxing when she saw So-eun coming up to talk to her. "I was about to head out, wanted to be sure to talk to you."

Seo-jeong thought quickly, balancing the bakery's bank account against her tiredness. "Would you like to earn a little extra? I'll pay you the same amount you were making as a waitress if you'll stick around to the end of the night and help me pack up my truck and then unpack it at the bakery. I'll even throw in a ride home."

So-eun thought for a moment. "Tomorrow's Wednesday, so I don't have to be at the restaurant until ten. Why not? Sounds like a great opportunity." She came and leaned on the wall next to Seo-jeong and they spent the next hour getting caught up on things 

* * *

Doyeon walked out from seeing a patient to find Hyo-jung there waiting for her. "Hey! What's up?" she asked, with a smile that vanished as soon as she the seriousness of Hyo-jung's face. "What's wrong?"

"The ambulance brought Suyeon in tonight. Yoojung thought you'd want to know-"

Before Hyo-jung had a chance to go on, Doyeon was peppering her with questions. "What happened? Is she going to be all right? Is Seo-jeong with her? Do you need me?"

Hyo-jung raised her hands in an effort to stop the flow of words. "She ran into a pole and knocked herself out. We think she's going to be all right, but with head injuries, you never know - you know that. Seo-jeong's not with her. Yoojung said she knew you would want to know about this, but she needs you to keep seeing your patients here, and if she needs you, she'll call for you."

Doyeon nodded. "Yeah, that all makes sense. Call me if you need me for anything. Anything at all. It's a slow night down at this end."

"It's a slow night all around," Hyo-jung said. "Let's hope it stays that way. Well, I've got to get back."

"OK. Thanks for coming. And tell Yoojung I said thank you for sending you."

"Will do." Hyo-jung had gone a couple of steps down the hall before she whirled about and came back again. "I almost forgot," she said. "You'll never guess who brought Suyeon in!"

Seeing a chance to lighten the mood a little, Doyeon took it. "The ambulance! You already said so."

Hyo-jung rolled her eyes. "I guess you got me there. But guess who was in the ambulance with her."

"Who?"

Hyo-jung's eyes glittered with the sheer joy of getting to provide this information. "Jung Hae-rim! And before you ask, yes, she had her brace on."

Doyeon's mind boggled for a second. "Suyeon knows Hae-rim?"

"Apparently they met this afternoon," Hyo-jung said. "Suyeon was in a self-defense class at Hae-rim's dojo when she knocked herself out. And that's not all." She scooter over closer to Doyeon so she could lower her voice. "I think Hae-rim's interested in Suyeon - she's not acting like a teacher who brought in an injured student."

Doyeon raised an eyebrow. "And what should she be doing that she's not? Or what shouldn't she be doing that she is?"

Hyo-jung shook her head. "It's not that simple. As a nurse you learn how to read people, to tell when they're telling the truth, when they're lying, and when they're only telling part of the truth. It's how we know which kids actually fell down the stairs and which we need to call Child Protective Services about."

"That makes sense," Doyeon said with a nod. "So you think there's something more going on between Hae-rim and Suyeon?"

Hyo-Jung nodded. "I'd bet actual money on it."

Doyeon smiled. "So if you're wrong, you'll buy the after-work soju?"

Doyeon heard a throat being cleared behind her. "Um. . . Dr. Kim?" She turned around and saw Shin Yuna, her new nurse, standing about three steps away and trying to get her attention.

Beckoning Yuna over, Doyeon said, "What is it Yuna? Never be afraid of interrupting me for something important."

Yuna stopped short for a second, as if calculating whether or not what she was about to say qualified as important. Apparently deciding that it did, she said "We gave Mrs. Lee in room 5 her medicine, but she's started throwing up."

"And that's my cue to get out of here. See you after work," Hyo-jung said.

"See you!" Doyeon called out, already on her way toward room 5 with Yuna following along behind her.


	6. Ice cream, petit-fours, and soju

"Ji Suyeon!"

. . .

"Ji Suyeon!"

Suyeon rolled her head to the side. Why was Yoojung calling her name? Didn't she know she was trying to sleep? Wait, no, that wasn't right. She wasn't supposed to be sleeping, was she? And why was Yoojung at her house? And what was that bright light?

She opened her eyes a little bit. She was staring at an unfamiliar ceiling. Where was she?

"Ji Suyeon! Do you know where you are?"

Wasn't she just wondering that? "I dunno."

"Do you know the date?"

"It's June 11. Right?" She knew that one at least. Why was Yoojung asking her all these questions?

"Do you know what year it is?"

She knew this one. "It's 2025." Seo-jeong had turned 25 earlier this year.

"Do you know your name?"

She smiled. "It's Ji Suyeon. You were just shouting it at me, Yoojung. Now it's my turn: Where are I?"

Yoojung shone a flashlight into one of Suyeon's eyes, then the other. "You answer one more question for me, then I'll tell you that. What's the last thing you remember?"

Suyeon closed her eyes and thought. "I was at the dojo. Jung Hae-rim's dojo. We were doing the self-defense class. And I. . . I knocked myself out?" She opened her eyes, reached over and grabbed Yoojung's arm. "I knocked myself out? Yoojung!" She began talking faster, her voice more frenzied. "Tell me I didn't manage to knock myself out in a self-defense class! I was wearing a new outfit because Seo-jeong insisted, because she thought the Hae-rim liked me, like this class was going to be a first date or something. And I told her she was wrong - even though I hoped she was right - and I went to the class. And I remember now - I ran into a pole! Yoojung! What do I do now? What do I say to Hae-rim next time I see her? Should I even see her again, or should I stay away and hope she forgets about me? What do I do?"

Yoojung smiled down at Suyeon. "Ordinarily I would have said to tell her what you just told me, but you sort of already did - she's standing on the other side of your bed, hasn't left your side since you came in here."

Suyeon squeezed her eyes shut. She turned her head toward Hae-rim and peeked up at her tentatively with one eye. "Hi?" She opened the other eye.

Hae-rim smiled down at her. "Hi there! You had me really worried! I'm so glad you're awake and seem to be okay! I had intended for the class to be like a first date - I was planning to ask you out for drinks afterward, only now Dr. Choi says you can't drink until you've been checked out by your regular physician. But she did give me the all-clear to take you out for ice cream on my way to take you home, if you feel up to it."

"But-" Yoojung cut in "-you're not leaving for at least 2 hours. I want to get a CT of your head to look for any injuries, and I want to observe you for at least 2 hours."

"Two hours?" Suyeon sulked as Yoojung nodded at her. Then she turned to Hae-rim. "You don't have to wait here for two hours. I can take a cab home."

Hae-rim brushed a stray strand of hair out of Suyeon's face. "But I want to, if you'll let me. Besides, a cab driver probably won't stop to get you ice cream. And even if they do, they won't have talked to your doctor and learned that your favorite flavor of ice cream is green tea."

Suyeon sniffled and brushed aside a tear that rolled out of her eye. "That's so sweet! I-" abruptly she turned toward Yoojung. "Yoojung! I'm not in one of those horrid backless gowns, am I?"

Yoojung put a hand on Suyeon's shoulder and spoke slowly and smoothly in an attempt to calm her down. "No, you're still in your clothes. And what a cute outfit - it's so nice to see you in something that isn't black or white! But you need to stay calm - if you get upset it'll trigger the monitors and then I'll have to admit you for more tests."

Suyeon leaned back into her pillow, looking up at Yoojung and Hae-rim. "I would introduce you, but apparently you've already met, which is kind of weird." She turned to Hae-rim. "I'd love it if you wanted to stay and keep me company, and I'm so glad that Seo-jeong was right about you wanting to date me and - Dammit, Yoojung! The part of my brain that keeps me from saying every damn thing I think is apparently broken!"

Yoojung laughed. "I don't think you ever had that part of the brain. But anyway, now that you're awake, I'll go tell the nurse to order your scan and I'll call Doyeon to let her know you're awake. She'll probably want to pop in to check on you herself."

Suyeon nodded, then turned to Hae-rim. "So at least I'll get to introduce you to one of my friends. Or do you already know Doyeon too?"

Hae-rim smiled. "If you're talking about Dr. Kim Doyeon, I already know her - she's my regular doctor in this ER. In fact, I just saw her last night and she put this lovely brace on my arm."

Suyeon pouted. "This is weird." Looking down, she noticed that Hae-rim was holding her hand. "Are you holding my hand?"

Hae-rim was taken by surprise by this sudden change of direction in the conversation. "Um. . . yeah. I have been since they loaded you in the ambulance. I can stop if you-"

"No!" Suyeon tightened her grip on Hae-rim's hand.

Yoojung's laughter floated in from the other side of the room. "Well, I'll leave you two to get acquainted. I'll be back to check on you from time to time, and the tech will come get you when it's time for your CT scan."

* * *

After the guests had all left, Seo-jeong and So-eun started gathering up the empty boxes from the petit fours and putting them in the recycling bins out back. Seo-jeong found one unopened box of petit fours. "Go put those in the cab of the truck," she told So-Eun. "That'll be our snack for when we get back to the bakery."

The whole time they were cleaning, So-eun was talking about the restaurant she was planning to open. Seo-jeong thought she had it pretty well planned out. Instead of an elevated take on cuisine like Soo-kyung was doing, she wanted to do something simpler, serving 5000-won lunches for office workers. "Simple but not cheap," she said. "Traditional but not rustic. 21st-century Korean food." She even had a plan to expand into selling kimchi, banchan, and pre-packaged box dinners. Seo-jeong thought it sounded like a great idea - if her savings could stretch far enough, she'd be interested in investing in this. She made a mental note to talk with Suyeon about her current financial state and see if her finances would permit it. "That's one advantage of having an accountant for a rooommate," she thought to herself.

They cleaned off the cake table, then broke it down and put it in the back of the truck. Finally,Seo-jeong washed the cake-cutting sword, dried it and put it away. "I'll wash the cake knives in the machine when we get back to the bakery," Seo-jeong explained, "but I always wash and dry the sword as soon as I can."

"What about the forks and plates?" So-eun asked.

Seo-jeong shook her head. "Those belong to the catering company. We don't have to deal with them."

After Seo-jeong made one last turn through the kitchen making sure she had packed everything that was hers, she told the catering supervisor she was leaving and she and So-eun climbed into her truck for the short drive back to the bakery. "That's one of the things I like best about my location," Seo-jeong told So-eun, "it's close enough to the convention center and the museum of contemporary art that I can work events there without having to try to take a cake on the freeway."

After Seo-jeong parked her truck behind the bakery, she and So-eun carried the sword, the cake cutters, and the box of petit fours into the bakery. Seo-jeong put the cake cutters in the dishwasher while So-eun poured them each a glass of almond milk to go with their petit-fours. As they finished eating, Seo-jeong yawned and looked at the time. "If you want to crash here tonight, you can," she told So-eun. "I'll leave you the spare key so you can lock up if you have to leave before I get here in the morning."

So-eun shook her head. "Not necessary. My apartment's just a couple of blocks from here, and I need to pick up a clean set of chef's whites before tomorrow's shift anyway."

They said good-bye and Seo-jeong took the bus back to her apartment. Upon getting there, she noticed the lights were all out and Suyeon wasn't there. "Her date must have gone even better than I'd hoped," Seo-jeong thought to herself as she stripped out of her bakery uniform and climbed into bed. 

* * *

Hyo-jung and Doyeon met up at Central Station after changing out of their scrubs.

"Did you have a chance to go see Suyeon before she was discharged?" Hyo-jung asked.

Doyeon nodded. "Yes, and I'm buying the drinks tonight." She laughed quietly. "I never would have pictured Jung Hae-rim being that whipped for somebody."

Hyo-jung laughed. Then something behind Doyeon caught her eye. "Yuna!" she called out. "Come with us, we're going to Scrub Inn!"

Shin Yuna came scurrying over to stand at Doyeon's elbow. "Another procedure? What happened?"

Doyeon and Hyo-jung both started laughing at this, which left Yuna looking rather confused. When she was finally able to talk, Doyeon said "Not 'to scrub in' like for a procedure. To Scrub Inn. I-N-N. It's a little bar a block down where the doctors and nurses like to go after their shift. No one's ever invited you to Scrub Inn after a shift?"

Yuna shook her head. "Until tonight I was just a floater. People barely even talked to me."

Doyeon looked accusingly at Hyo-jung. "You've got to do something about that. We don't even treat med students that badly, not even when they're far more trouble than they're worth."

Hyo-jung nodded, then turned back to Yuna. "Anyway, Doyeon and I were about to go, and since drinks are on her tonight, it'd be a great night for you to tag along."

Yuna looked at Doyeon. "That's very kind of you, Dr. Kim."

Doyeon rolled her eyes. "First of all, when we're off shift, you can call me Doyeon. In fact, please do. And secondly, as much as I'd love to have you thinking I'm so generous, the fact is that I'm buying tonight because I lost a bet." 

Hyo-jung laughed as she started steering the group toward the exit. "Yeah, Doyeon thinks that doctors are just as good at reading people as nurses, and I had to show her otherwise."

After a moment's pause, Yuna said "Did this bet have something to do with the pretty brunette who was brought in unconscious with her girlfriend in a taekwondo uniform?"

Hyo-jung couldn't help laughing at this. "You see! Yuna's a brand new nurse, doesn't even know any of the people involved, and she still does a better job of reading the situation than you did!"

Doyeon buried her face in her hands. "I'm never going to live this one down, am I?"

Hyo-jung threw her arm around Doyeon's shoulder. "Sure you are - but not until after a couple of rounds of drinks."

"Well then, let's get started," Doyeon said, heading out the door and up the sidewalk with Hyo-jung and Yuna trailing along behind her. When she stopped, it was in front of a bar that might as well have been closed for years given all the signs of life it showed. The sign over the door reading "Scrub Inn" was hanging slightly askew, and there was a sign in the window advertising OB Lager.

Yuna pointed to the sign in the window. "Let me guess," she said with a laugh, "they also serve gin!"

Hyo-jung and Doyeon both picked up her laughter. "See?" Hyo-jung said. "I told you I made a good choice when I picked your nurse!"

Doyeon opened the door and led Yuna into the bar. "We'll see about that - I haven't seen what she's like after a couple of rounds of soju."


	7. What happened last night

Seo-jeong woke up just moments before her alarm went off. She climbed out of bed and headed for the bathroom. As she passed by Suyeon's doorway, she was startled by the sudden appearance of a blonde woman in a pair of Suyeon's pajamas. 

"Who are you?" they both asked in unison.

After a moment of staring each other down, Seo-jeong said "Since it's my apartment, I think you should answer first, before I call the police."

The blonde glanced behind her before looking back at Seo-jeong. "Your apartment? I thought this was Suyeon's apartment."

"Wait a second-" Seo-jeong's eyes narrowed. "You're the taekwondo woman from yesterday!" She looked Hae-rim up and down, taking in the fact that she was wearing Suyeon's pajamas. "You don't waste any time."

Hae-rim looked confused for a second, then looked down at her outfit and said "Oh! No! No, it's not like you're thinking. I slept on the floor by Suyeon's bed after I brought her home from the ER last night."

"What was Suyeon doing in the ER? Is she okay? What-" Seojong shouldered her way into Suyeon's room, where she saw Suyeon sleeping peacefully on her bed. She turned back to Hae-rim. "What happened to her?"

"She ran into a pole and knocked herself out," Hae-rim said calmly. "I called the ambulance and went with her to the ER. Dr. Yoojung did a scan of her brain and watched her for a couple of hours, then let me take her home. I didn't want to leave her alone, so after I put her to bed, I put on a pair of her pajamas and laid down on the floor next to her. I'm surprised my alarm didn't wake you up - I've been waking up every 2 hours all night to check on her."

Seo-jeong nodded, taking this all in. "Thank you for watching over Suyeon," she said with a small bow. "I was headed to the bathroom when I ran into you, then I was headed to the kitchen for breakfast. Are you hungry?"

"Hey," Suyeon called out weakly, "isn't anybody going to come check on me?"

Faster than Seo-jeong could see, Hae-rim was sitting on the edge of Suyeon's bed, holding her hand. "I've been checking on you all night, while you slept like a baby. I'm glad to see you're awake - I was getting worried I might have to take you back to the ER."

Seo-jeong laughed. "Even when she hasn't been injured, no one sleeps like Suyeon."

Suyeon nodded. "It's true. All my friends tease me about it. On a flight to America once I slept for 10 hours straight!"

Hae-rim laughed and she rubbed Suyeon's hand. "Well, I'm just glad you're okay. You are feeling okay, aren't you?"

Suyeon nodded. "Now, I believe I heard someone say something about breakfast?" She turned her attention to Hae-rim. "That's an advantage of sharing an apartment with a baker - fresh pastry for breakfast every morning."

Seo-jeong laughed. 'If you're well enough to eat, I guess that's something. Are you up to coming to eat in the kitchen, or should your girlfriend and I fix you breakfast in bed?"

Suyeon looked startled. "Girlfriend?"

Hae-rim smiled down at her. "That's what you said you wanted last night, but I figured I'd talk to you some more about it later, once you weren't so very head-injured."

"That sounds good," Suyeon said. "Maybe we can talk after breakfast? I think I can make it to the kitchen."

* * *

Doyeon was startled awake by something soft but heavy smacking her in the face, then sliding off of her. She opened her eyes to see a mass of hair - a long blonde ponytail. Apparently its owner had rolled over quickly and it had hit Doyeon in the face. Doyeon thought back. The last thing she could remember was being at Scrub Inn drinking with Hyo-jung and Yuna. She thought that this must be Yuna next to her, and a quick glimpse confirmed that she was right. Had she? Had she and Yuna? Had they? She looked down - she was still wearing her shirt and panties from last night, so that was a pretty good sign that nothing had happened. She'd go with that assumption until something told her otherwise.

She sat up, in the process dislodging the duvet from Yuna's shoulder. Yuna rolled over, her ponytail flopping against the pillow, and scooted over, apparently seeking Doyeon's warmth. When the only part of Doyeon she could find was her arm, she settled for wrapping herself around that and going back to sleep. Doyeon struggled in vain to free her arm, but Yuna had too tight of a grip on it. "Come on! Let go!" Doyeon pleaded to no avail.

"Oh good, you're awake!"

Doyeon looked up and saw Hyo-jung standing in the doorway, still wearing her clothes from the day before, holding a cup of coffee.

"We've still got plenty of time before shift starts," Hyo-jung said, taking a sip of her coffee, "so even if you want to go back to your place to shower and change before work, you've still got plenty of time."

"How did I even get here?" Doyeon asked, wishing her head would stop hurting and hoping Hyo-Jung would offer her a cup of coffee.

"We walked," Hyo-jung said, She came over put her coffee on the nightstand, and tried to help Doyeon extricate her arm. "As it turns out, Yuna's apartment is just a block down from Scrub Inn."

"So. . ." Doyeon hated to do this, but she'd been friends with Hyo-jung for long enough that she felt could, "did I. . . did we. . ." She gestured, encompassing herself, Yuna, and the bed. "Did she and I. . . What happened?"

Hyo-jung laughed, managing to wrestle Yuna's arms apart so that Doyeon could pull herself free. Apparently united in their desire to let Yuna sleep for a while longer, they quieted down and slipped away to the kitchen. As Doyeon prepared herself a cup of coffee, she prompted Hyo-jung: "You were going to answer my question?"

"Oh, yes." Hyo-jung took another sip of her coffee, apparently enjoying making Doyeon wait. "Like I said, Yuna's apartment is only a block down from Scrub Inn, so we decided to all come sleep here because the two of you got into quite the drinking competition - I'd say it was a tie. You were both pretty incoherent by the end of it. Anyway, we got back here. Yuna insisted that you should sleep in the bed because you're a doctor. You insisted that she should sleep in the bed because it's her bed. Finally I couldn't take it anymore, so I put you both in the bed then went to sleep on the couch. I was asleep until about 10 minutes before you got up, so if you two got up to something after I fell asleep, I wouldn't know. But neither of you seemed to be in any shape to start anything, if that's any consolation. On the other hand, she seemed to have quite the grip on you when I came in. . ."

Doyeon snatched her cup of coffee out of the machine and downed half of it at a gulp. She knew she'd enjoy tormenting Hyo-Jung like this if their positions were reversed, but that didn't make being on the receiving end any more pleasant. Seeing that Yuna apparently didn't have sugar on the counter, she downed the rest of her coffee and put the cup back in the machine to make another.

Hyo-jung laughed. "Someone woke up grumpy this morning."

"I'm not grumpy," Doyeon snapped. "I always love not being able to remember everything I did the night before. Or didn't do, as the case may be."

Taking her coffee over the kitchen window, Hyo-jung enjoyed the view of the recycling bins and a couple of stray cats while she waited for Doyeon to calm down. She didn't turn around when she heard the kitchen door open. And she didn't turn around when she heard Yuna say "Hi sweetie! I was wondering where you'd gotten off to. I was hoping you hadn't forgotten your promise to take me for a walk in the park before work tonight." And she most certainly didn't turn around when she heard the sound of a kiss being planted on somebody, followed by Yuna saying "Once your coffee finishes brewing, can you brew one for me? I've got to go brush my teeth."

Hyo-jung waited a slow count of 10 after she thought she heard Yuna leave the room before she turned around. Doyeon had just started brewing another cup of coffee, and when she looked up, her face was absolutely stunned.

"What the hell?" Doyeon mouthed.

Hyo-jung could only shrug. Then she watched the stunned look on Doyeon's face turn to one of horror - if this whatever this was with Yuna went bad, and Yuna decided to report Doyeon for sexual harassment, Doyeon could be in so much trouble. So much trouble that Yoojung exiling her to Minor Injuries suddenly became a best case scenario. And even if Yuna didn't decide to report this, she evidently really liked Doyeon, and thought that the feelings were mutual, and unless she found a good way out of this, working with Yuna as her nurse would be awkward, at best.

"Looks like I'm going to the park this afternoon," Doyeon said quietly.

"Would it really be so bad?" Hyo-jung asked.

Whatever retort Doyeon would have come up with was cut off by Yuna bouncing into the kitchen, apparently none the worse from her previous night's drinking except for this delusion that Doyeon was interested in her. Or was it a delusion? Yuna was cute enough, even if she wasn't exactly Doyeon's usual type, and Hyo-Jung hadn't been lying when she said she had no idea what had happened after she put the two of them to bed the night before.

Yuna took her cup of coffee from the machine, pulled down a honey bear from the cabinet above the stove and squirted a healthy shot of honey into her coffee. 

"If I'd have know you all were coming over, I would have been sure to put out the honey so you could find it the next morning. I don't buy white sugar, and I'm sure you know to check the fridge for milk, but the honey wasn't exactly easy for you to find. My mom always kept the honey above the stove, so when I got my own place, that's where I put it, I didn't even think that I might have guests over who might not think to look there." Apparently the one friendly act of inviting her out the night before had been enough to totally erase any shyness Yuna had had about talking to them.

Yuna turned to Doyeon. "I know I promised to take you out to lunch today. Do you want to do that now, like a brunch, and then go to the park and you can show me the orchids? Or do you want to go to the park first and have lunch at a more usual time." Before Doyeon had a chance to answer, she pressed on. "Since you're my height, you can wear anything you want in my closet. Which is so cool! I've never dated someone my height before!" She turned to Hyo-Jung. "You're almost as tall as I am, so as long as we avoid the longer skirts we should be able to find something you can wear. Do you want to call your partner and we can make it a double date?"

"Um. . . " Hyo-jung wasn't sure what to say about this. Finally, she said "I'm actually not seeing anyone at the moment. I should go home and water my plants. I'll see you all back at the hospital tonight."

And with that, ignoring Doyeon's silent protestations, Hyo-Jung put her coffee mug into the sink and headed straight out of the kitchen and then out of Yuna's apartment, stopping only to slip on her shoes.

* * *

When So-eun walked into the restaurant, she saw Soo-kyung reading something on her phone, a big smile on her face.

"Am I to guess that Mr. Foodie did indeed come, and that he liked the food here?" So-eun wouldn't have admitted it, even to herself, but she was just as nervous about this blogger as Soo-kyung was.

"'Refined versions of Korean classics," Soo-kyung read from her phone, "'elevated versions of the everyday,' 'not at all pretentious or fussy, this is fine dining for the person who thinks they don't like fine dining.'" She lowed her phone and turned to So-eun, saying "And he wrote so much more, all of it positive! Get ready to be swamped! We'll be positively drowning in customers."

So-eun suddenly thought of a question, and she hate to know the answer, but she had to ask. "In light of this," she asked quietly, "am I still writing the menu for Monday? I'll understand if you want-"

Before she could finish the sentence, Sookyung had jumped out of her seat and swepy her up in hug. "Of course I still want you to write Monday's menu! This is partly your success too, and I want you to share in it to the fullest."

"OK!" So-eun said, "Great! Thank you!" She knew how generous Soo-kyung was being here - a lot of chefs made sure that positive light only shone on them, while being all too happy to blame negative reviews on their subordinates. She murmured a silent prayer of thanks that she was working for Soo-kyung and not for someone else.

"But we'll worry about that later. Today we've got to make it through lunch and dinner service. Take a look at the menu" - she pointed to the blackboard - "and get your brigade started prepping ingredients as soon as they come in. I'm expecting to turn 80 tops during the lunch service and 120 during dinner."

So-eun's eyes grew huge - 80 tops at lunch would mean filling and emptying every table 4 times during the lunch service, while 120 at dinner would mean cycling each table 6 times. On the best day, they'd never done more more than 50 tops at lunch and 75 during dinner. "Do you really think we'll have that many customers today?"

Soo-kung nodded, her face serious. "If you hadn't come in from the back, you'd have seen that people are already lining up out front for lunch. I wouldn't be surprised if the people who don't make it in for lunch just stay right there and start waiting for dinner right away. If you ever have free time again, there's a blog post you need to read called 'Mr. Foodie loved my cooking and it ruined my life.' Some chefs aren't ready to handle the sudden burst of fame that comes from being reviewed by Mr. Foodie, but I'm not planning to let that happen to us."

Soo-kyung was pleased to see that So-eun had already pulled out her notebook and was calculating how much of each ingredient they'd need to prep. 

"Are we assuming equal proportions of each entree?" So-eun asked, her pencil flying over the page.

Soo-kyung shook her head. "Assume 2/3 order the abalone - that's what Mr. Foodie ate Monday."

"You got it, chef!" So-eun said brightly as she rushed to finish the calculations. 


	8. After the morning after

Yoojung tried to figure out what she wanted to do. She didn't normally wake up this early, but for some reason she was unable to sleep this morning. She rolled over from one side of her futon to the other, finally recognizing that more sleep wasn't happening. She got up, laced up her shoes, and went for a run. The neighboorhood was in full swing - businesses opening, mothers taking babies out for a morning walk, businessmen on their way to work. She loved the rhythm of the city and couldn't imagine living anywhere else. As she passed the mechanic shop on the corner, she did a double-take - there was Dr. Lee walking out of the shop after dropping off a Mercedes that looked to be almost as old as Yoojung.

"Dr. Lee- I mean, Ji-eun! Hi!" She slowed to a walk as she came up alongside the other woman.

"Yoojung! What are you doing out this early? You were on shift until late last night." Ji-eun looked concerned.

Yoojung shrugged. "I just couldn't sleep anymore, so I decided to go out for a run. What about you? Car trouble?"

Ji-eun nodded. "That car is almost more trouble than it's worth, but I can't imagine life without it. It breaks down so often that I'm on a first name with my mechanic." She laughed at the ridiculous state of her car.

"Why keep it if it's that much trouble?" Yoojung asked.

Ji-eun looked around, as if measuring how much to say. Finally, she said "I grew up poor - we could never afford a car. But I promised myself that when I became a doctor, I'd have a car. And I kept that promise to myself, even if between student loans and the high cost of living in Seoul, Heinz is the best car I can afford."

Yoojung laughed. "You named your car Heinz?"

"Of course! He's a German car, so he's got to have a German name!" Ji-eun joined in Yoojung's laughter.

As they crossed the next street, the sun was blocked out by the bulk of the hospital. Sighing, Ji-eun said "And now I've got to let you get back to your run - I've got a meeting with my boss this morning. I'll see you before shift change, though - come by my office."

After assuring Ji-eun that she would, Yoojung waved good-bye and resumed her run. 

* * *

Suyeon sat in a chair in the back of the kitchen watching Seo-Jeong make puff pastry. Fold the dough, roll it out, fold the dough, roll it out, refrigerate, repeat. Seo-jeong actually had several batches of puff pastry going at once so that she always had one batch that was ready to be worked on while the other batches were in the refrigerator cooling. From time to time the bell would ring announcing a customer had entered the shop and Seo-jeong would have to pop out to the front to man the counter. Suyeon had offered to man the counter, but Seo-jeong had firmly nixed the idea.

"When Yoojung said 'No work for a week,' she didn't mean no work for a week except for bakery work. I don't want to think about how Jooyung would react if she popped in for some pastry and saw you hard at work." Seo-jeong had finally finished the sixth fold on the final batch of puff pastry, so she came to sit by Suyeon while the oven heated up. Normally she started the oven as soon as she came in and it was already ready to go by this time, but on puff pastry days she needed the kitchen to be cooler so the butter didn't melt.

"I know," Suyeon said, "it's just hard not to do anything. I'm not allowed to work. I'm not allowed to read. I'm not even allowed to watch TV! I'll die of boredom long before the head injury has time to do me any harm."

Seo-jeong nodded - she could only imagine how much this enforced brain rest must be bothering Suyeon. "How did the partners take it when you told them you needed the week off?"

Suyeon shrugged. "What could they do? I'm under doctor's orders. But I know they're not happy about it - Nayeon's voice made that clear, even though she was trying to hide it - and I know the other juniors are going to be pissed off about it, because all my work's going to pile over onto them. I'll have to volunteer anytime anyone wants time off for the next year if I'm going to rebuild all the goodwill I'm burning through this week.

Seo-jeong hoped that maybe with a sudden change of topic she could change Suyeon's mood. "So how are things with Hae-rim? You two talked for like an hour and a half after breakfast this morning. How are things looking there?"

The look of exasperation on Suyeon's face only intensified. "I wish I could tell you. Apparently last night while I was out of my skull I told her everything of how I felt about her, and all my past relationship troubles, and so now it's just. . . how do you have a conversation when the other person already has all your information. You're at a hopeless disadvantage!"

The alarm on the oven dinged. Seo-jeong kept talking while she got up to start making croissants. "Or maybe you could try not looking at it as a competition, for once in your life. Take it as a blessing - all the things that are hard to say, you've already said."

"Well, yeah, that part's good, I guess," Suyeon grumbled. "But it's not a two-way street - she's got so many secrets, so many things she hasn't told me or isn't ready to tell me yet or can't tell me or. . ."

With expert ease, Seo-jeong twisted a croissant into shape, crimped the ends together, and put it on the sheet pan. "Well," she said, after a moment's thought, "at least she didn't leave after you unloaded everything on her. That's good. If she's someone who's used to playing things close to the chest, it's going to take her some time to learn how to open up. But if you're able to hang on until then, I bet it'll be worth it."

"Yeah, I guess so," Suyeon grumbled. She leaned back in her chair and let the quiet sounds of the bakery soothe her mind.

"She really is pretty, though," Seo-jeong was saying, not even noticing that Suyeon was apparently falling asleep. "And that saving you from slipping and falling thing yesterday? So romantic! And how she held your hand the whole time you were unconscious?" Seo-jeong sighed. She was a romantic at heart, but her luck in love was at least as bad as Suyeon's, if not worse.

* * *

Doyeon and Yuna went to the Pureun Arboretum - it had opened in 2013, so people still thought of it as the "new" botanical park, and somehow Yuna had never been. They knew they wouldn't have time to visit everything in one go, so they studied the map on the train there and picked out what they wanted to see first. 

Yuna particularly loved the English garden. "I would love to be able to have a garden like this someday, but no one in Seoul has this much space."

"Have you ever considered moving to a smaller town?" Doyeon asked.

Yuna shook her head. "No. I've lived in Seoul all my life. I know the rhythms of the city and I'd be lost in a small town." 

Doyeon nodded. "I can see that. I'm a city girl too, so I don't think I'd do too well in a small town."

"I guess it's a good thing we have the arboretum, then, so we can come see gardens like this," Yuna said with a laugh.

"I guess so," Doyeon agreed. Checking the time on her phone, she said "It's almost lunch time. Do you want to see the French garden and then go to lunch?"

Yuna considered this for a moment. She pulled up the map of the arboretum on her phone and studied it carefully for a moment. "I want to save the French garden for next time, so I've got something to look forward to. How about a quick walk through the urban garden, then lunch?"

"Sounds good," Doyeon said. 

As they walked down the path, a cloud passed over the sun, mirroring Doyeon's mood. As much as she was enjoying Yuna's company and could easily see the two of them dating, there was still hospital policy to deal with. She knew she'd have to bring this up over lunch, but she put it off as long as she could, in hopes that some other solution would present itself.

They walked through the city garden, pointing out things they could try at their own apartments. Doyeon had never owned a plant of any sort, but Yuna's enthusiasm was infectious and she found herself considering starting a garden. On the far side of the city garden, they reached the train station. As they waited for the train, Yuna scrolled through a list of restaurants on her phone, keeping up a nonstop stream of commentary on each one as she tried to decide where she was taking Doyeon for lunch.

Finally, just as they were boarding the train, she decided. "We'll need to get off at the stop before the hospital," she said. "I want to take you to one of my favorite places."

As swaying of the train lulled them both into a moment of silence, each alone with her thoughts. When they reached their stop, though, Yuna's seeming endless supply of energy seemed to have been replenished. Grabbing Doyeon's hand, she said "Come on!" and practically dragged her down the street.

From Yuna's excitement over the English garden and the French garden, Doyeon was expecting to be led to a European-style restaurant. Instead, Yuna led her into what could only be described as a sports bar. Two large TVs were blaring soccer games. A variety of equipment, posters, and uniforms from any number of different sports covered the walls. Besides the expected basketball, baseball, and soccer, Doyeon saw items related to less popular sports, like wrestling, archery, and horseback riding, and even some items from sports she didn't recognize. The hostess appeared to know Yuna, and after a brief conversation that was too quiet for Doyeon to hear over the noise of the televisions, the hostess looked around and said "You're in luck, Yuna. Your table is empty. Why don't you go seat yourself and get the kitchen started on your food."

Yuna nodded, then took Doyeon by the hand and led her to a table toward the back of the restaurant, where it was quieter and they actually stood a chance of talking.

"Why did she say this was your table?" Doyeon asked. "Do you come here that often?"

Yuna laughed and shook her head. "I do come here fairly often, but the reason this is my table is on the wall right there."

Doyeon looked at the wall and saw what appeared to be a hockey stick and a hockey jersey.

"That's my jersey and my stick from when I was on my high school's championship floorball team!" Yuna said with pride.

Doyeon did a double-take, looking from the Yuna to the jersey and back again. "I never would have pictured you for a jock," she finally said.

Yuna laughed. "I love all kinds of things - I bet I keep surprising you for a long time to come."

Doyeon saw her opening. "About that-"

She was interrupted by the waitress bringing their food: Two different kinds of fried chicken, crispy fried fish, scallion pancakes, dubu kimchi, and big foamy mugs of beer.

Doyeon looked dubiously at the beer. "You know we have to be on shift in 4 hours."

Yuna picked up her mug and took a swig. "That's why I ordered non-alcoholic beer! It tastes the same, but we're still safe to go to work after!"

Somewhat skeptically, Doyeon picked up her mug and took a drink. She thought Yuna was overstating it to say it tasted the same as regular beer, but it certainly was beer-like.

"Eat up," Yuna said, pushing one of the plates toward Doyeon. "Neither one of us had breakfast, and this has to carry us over til midnight."

Doyeon picked up a piece of cheese and garlic chicken and started eating. She had just taken a big bite when Yuna said "You were about to say something when the waitress came. What was it?"

Doyeon swallowed the chicken in her mouth, took a sip of beer to buy herself a moment to think, and then said "I hate to be the one to say this, because this has been a really great day, but you do know that hospital policy forbids us dating, don't you?"

Yuna nodded as she tore off a piece of scallion pancake and popped it in her mouth. "That's why we don't tell the hospital."

"But," Doyeon protested, "don't you think people will know? It would be the end of both of our careers."

Yuna shook her head. "No way. At work we'll be all professional -" and all of a sudden she was the strait-laced, formal nurse from the day before "- and then out of work we do whatever we want, while being reasonably careful."

Doyeon protested, but Yuna had an answer to her every objection. By the end of their meal, Doyeon had reached a realization - Yuna was determined that the two of them were dating, and that nothing would stand in the way of that, and the only way Doyeon would get out of it would be to break up with her, which she wasn't quite ready to do yet. Finally, worn down, she conceded. "OK, we'll try it, but we've got to be super careful."

Yuna sat up straight. "Of course, Dr. Kim."

Doyeon was barely able to keep from laughing at the serious expression on Yuna's face. Then she broke down and started giggling, when led Yuna to start giggling, and in the end it was several minutes before they were able to regain their composure. 


	9. Beginnings and more beginnings

The lunch rush was over, and they had time for a short break before they had to start resetting the kitchen for dinner. So-kyung and So-eun were leaning against the expediter's station, drinking bottles of water, when Soo-kyung said "So. . . . how much longer are you going to be working for me?"

So-eun almost choked on the water she was drinking. "What do you mean?" she asked.

Soo-kyung smiled at her. "Before you ask, no one told me. I just know the signs: Young sous chef, bent on learning everything she can, she's going to want to open her own restaurant as soon as she can. So she'll have been saving every penny she can, revising her business plan every time she learns something new, and her restaurant's opening day is emblazoned on the front of her brain with letters of fire."

So-eun laughed. "You make it sound so dramatic."

"Well, that's what it felt like to me when I was going through it," Sookyun said with a shrug. "So when's your opening day?"

So-eun took a swig of her water, stared at the wall in front of her for a second, and said "October 9."

Soo-kyung stopped, her bottle of water halfway to her mouth. "That's faster than I was expected. Based on what I pay and what it costs to open a restaurant, I figured I'd have you for another year, at least. You must be doing some serious hustling!"

So-eun blushed. "I'm working as a cater waiter on my nights off."

"That would do it," Soo-kyung said, nodding appreciatively. She looked So-eun up and down. "I bet you're cute in a tuxedo shirt and that little apron."

So-eun blushed even harder. "I feel more comfortable in my chef's whites," she said.

Soo-kyung stared at the floor, apparently lost in thought. After a while, she nodded decisively and looked over at So-eun to ask "How would you like to open your own place earlier than October 9?"

So-eun's eyes got wide. "What do you mean?" she asked.

Soo-kyung looked into So-eun's for a long moment, as if trying to read her soul. "I won't promise anything now, but if our day cooking from your menu on Monday goes well, and if I like the looks of your business plan when you bring it in on Tuesday, I think I'd be interested in investing in your restaurant."

So-eun's face lit up and she swept Soo-kyung up in a hug, lifting her off her feel, all standards of kitchen etiquette forgotten. "Oh, that would be wonderful! The best I had dared dream of was that you wouldn't be too mad at me when I left!"

Soo-kyung managed to climb down from So-eun's hug. "I didn't promise anything yet. I said 'if'. But if everything looks as good as I expect it's going to, not only would I be interested in investing, I know a couple of other people who might also be interested, depending on how much control you're will to sell."

So-eun's face grew serious for a second. "I'd never really thought about taking on investors for my first restaurant. I'm not really sure how to do it. If you don't mind me asking, how much control do you have of Chez Lua?"

"Sixty percent," Soo-kyun said decisively. "The chef I worked for before starting my own place owns the other 40%."

"So I should probably try to hang on to at least 60% of my place," So-eun said thoughtful. Then her face shifted, as another idea occurred to her. "Have I heard of this chef who owns the other 40% of Chez Lua?"

"I should hope so," Soo-kyung said with a laugh. "It's Park Jin Woo."

So-eun's eyes widened. "You used to work for Chef JinJin?"

Soo-kyung nodded. "I wanted to work for the best I could, and one of my professors was able to get him to take a look at me."

"Wow!" So-eun was clearly impressed by this. "So you're like one generation removed from kitchen royalty!"

Soo-kyung laughed, "Yeah, but you know it doesn't work like that. In this industry, you're only as good as the last dish that came out of your kitchen. Speaking of which -" she glanced up at the clock - "you'd better get the brigade to work prepping for dinner."

"Yes, chef!" So-eun said with a smile.

Hae-rim waited on the sidewalk while the delivery driver got off his scooter and carried the bag of food into the bakery, then she followed him in. Inside the bakery, Seo-jeong was in the middle of saying "We didn't order any food" when Hae-rim said "I did. I figured you ladies would be hungry." She gave the driver a tip and he hurried on his way.

Suyeon toddled out from the back of the bakery, rubbing her eyes. "Did I hear someone say food?"

Hae-rim stepped forward and gave Suyeon a hug. "You did. How are you feeling today?"

Suyeon returned the hug before turning to helping Seo-jeong unpack the food. "Bored and tired. I can't do anything, so I just sit there, and just sitting there is so boring that I end up falling asleep."

Hae-rim smiled. "Well then, I'll have to try to be interesting enough to keep you awake!" Turning to Seo-Jeong, she added "After you eat, if there's anywhere you need to go I can get Suyeon home and stay with her until you get back."

Seo-jeong nodded. "There are a few things I need to pick up at the store. Thank you."

Suyeon looked up from the package she was opening. "I am capable of taking care of myself!"

Hae-rim put her arm around Suyeon. "Of course you are," she said, "I'm just doing what the doctor said because it gives me an excuse to spend a lot of time with you." She winked at Seo-jeong, who had to stifle a giggle.

Once everything was unpacked, they all sat own at one of the bakery's tables to eat.

"You got all my favorite things," Suyeon said as she picked up a dumpling. "How'd you know what to get?"

Hae-rim finished chewing the noodles in her mouth and then said "I called Kim Doyeon and she told me what to get."

Suyeon sputtered, almost choking on the food in her mouth. "Doyeon's a doctor," she protested. "You can't just call her because you need to know what takeout to order!"

Hae-rim nodded. "She's my doctor, remember? And she told me to call her if I ever needed anything. Anyway, she seemed happy to hear from me."

Seo-jeong said "Probably beause she's got a lot of patients who don't listen to her. She says she's got some who don't even wait for all of their exam before leaving."

Hae-rim raised her hand guiltily. "That would be me."

Seo-jeong sputtered. "I'm sorry. . . I didn't mean. . . She just said."

"It's fine," Hae-rim said with a laugh. "I deserved it."

"Why'd you always leave like that?" Suyeon asked around a mouthful of pork belly.

Hae-rim sat quietly until Suyeon was sure she'd offended her by asking the question, and Suyeon had just opened her mouth when she started to speak, much more quietly than usual. "My life is. . . complicated. Not everyone involved in the martial arts is a good person. Some of those people. . . don't like me. So I don't trust easily, and I don't feel safe many places. It's led me to make some decisions that maybe weren't the best."

The noodles on Seo-jeong's chopsticks slipped back into the bowl, untasted. Putting the bowl and chopsticks down on the table, she stood up. "Suyeon, can you help me with something in the back for a second."

Hae-rim was about to offer to help, but when she looked at Seo-jeong's face, she saw that she didn't really want help, she wanted Suyeon. She stayed quiet and watched as Suyeon got up and followed Seo-jeong into the back. As the door to the back of the bakery closed, Hae-rim took a sip of tea and waited. She knew what was going on in the back of the bakery. Well she knew it was one of two things: After Seo-jeong questioned whether or not Hae-rim could be trusted, Suyeon would either agree with her and they'd say the didn't need Hae-rim to stay with Suyeon after all, or else Suyeon would disagree and Seo-jeong would leave for the store as soon as they got back. Hae-rim had seen this happen before, so she wasn't surprised by it. Unfortunately, she couldn't tell Suyeon everything - certainly not yet, possibly not ever - so she'd have to hope for some amount of blind trust. She took another sip of her tea and continued waiting.

After a couple of minutes, Seo-jeong and Suyeon walked back into the room. Suyeon's face was flushed. Seo-jeong grabbed her purse from under the register and said "Well, I've go to get to the store before it closes. You two enjoy your dinner and I'll see you at home." The significant look she gave Suyeon was impossible to miss, as was Suyeon's wordless defiance. Exhaling loudly through her nose, Seo-jeong said "Be sure to lock the door on your way out" and strode purposefully out the door.

"Don't mind Seo-jeong," Suyeon said. "She just worries about me, and when she heard what you said - you know, about dangerous people and bad life choices - she thought maybe I shouldn't trust you, and the best thing would be to get you out of my life as soon as possible."

Hae-rim winced. "And you obviously didn't agree."

Suyeon brought a dumpling halfway to her mouth, paused, then put it down again. She stared at her plate for a moment. When she looked up, there was a steely look in her eyes. "I'm an accountant. I spend all day, every day being careful. And maybe Seo-jeong's right and dating you is a risk, but it's the only risk in my life. I know how much risk I can handle, and I can handle this."

Hae-rim reached out with her chopsticks, picked up the dumpling from Suyeon's plate and fed it to her. "It means a lot to me that you're willing to trust me. A lot of people would have cut things off right now, and I wanted to give you that chance. I don't know when - or if - I'll be able to tell you everything - or even anything - about the dangerous parts of my life, but I promise I'll tell you as much as I can, and that I'll do my best not to let that part of my life touch you."

Suyeon looked into Hae-rim's eyes as she chewed and swallowed the dumpling. "It's sweet of your to want to protect me, but I've seen enough superhero movies to know how this goes: When your enemies find out about me, they'll see me as a way to get to you."

Hae-rim blinked twice, slowly. Her face fell. "I hadn't thought of it in precisely those terms. Maybe I had better go." 

She moved to stand up, but Suyeon grabbed her hand. "No, don't," she said. "I told you, I'm aware of the risk, and I'm willing to take it. Besides, I keep a stun gun and pepper spray in my purse. Plus. . ." she added triumphantly, "I took a self-defence class from an expert martial artist!"

Hae-rim tried to wipe away the tears that had come to her eyes without Suyeon noticing. Managing a bittersweet smile, she said "Ji Suyeon, I think I could love you."

"I hope so," Suyeon thought. "I certainly hope so."

The ER was practically empty . "Are people just not getting hurt?" Yoojung wondered. As much as she didn't like seeing people get hurt, she'd rather have more patients. The time passed faster when you're busy. Also, you don't have as much time to worry about the negative feedback you'd received from your supervisor that afternoon.

Not that Ji-eun wasn't nice about it. She had tried everything she could to frame things in a positive light and point out pluses before moving on to the minuses. But the fact remained that there was a minus that was big enough that Ji-eun had felt the need to call Yoojung into the office about it, and to prescribe a course of action for her.

"All of your outcome indices are wonderful," Ji-eun had said, "but when I walk through the ER on your shift, I don't feel the same sense of esprit de corps that I feel with the other shifts. You need to meld your people into a team. They've got to feel linked to one another and that they're part of something bigger than themselves. So here's what you're going to do: I know it sounds cliche, because it's what every middle manager in the country does when he needs to bring his team closer together, but the reason it's so common is because it works. On your way out, pick up the departmental credit card from the secretary's desk, and then tonight after shift, take your whole team to Scrub Inn. Put all the drinks and snacks on the card and it's your responsibility to make sure everyone is having a good time and your team is closer together."

So now the shift was almost over and Yoojung was going around letting everyone know about the night's activities. She could tell that some of them would rather not have gone, but she made sure they understood she was speaking as "Dr. Choi Yoojung, chief resident and Dr. Lee's protege," not just as "Yoojung." Right now she was in Psychiatry and Chronic Illnesses. Doyeon and Yuna were just coming out of an exam room when she caught them.

"Dr. Kim, Nurse Yuna. The whole team is going out to Scrub Inn after work tonight. I expect to see you there." 

Doyeon blinked. "Wow. Full formality and everything. I'm guessing this little team-building exercise was Dr. Lee's idea?"

Yoojung blushed, then nodded. "Yes, it was. But I wish I'd thought of it first. There's been a lot of bad feeling going around the team, and I'd like to get everyone on better terms."

Doyeon tossed the towel she was carrying into the nearest laundry cart, then celebrated making it in as if she was a basketball player making the winning basket. "We'll be there," she said. Then putting her arm around Yoojung's shoulder, she leaned in so she could speak quiety and said "And relax! This is supposed to be fun! Remember fun?"

Yoojung smiled at Doyeon. This was the Doyeon she remembered from med school. Why couldn't they be like this with each other all the time? Why did they spend so much of each night at each other's throats?


	10. Late nights and early mornings

Seo-Jeong paused at the doorway to Suyeon's bedroom. "I'm going to bed. Do you need anything?"

Suyeon looked up from sketchbook Seo-jeong had brought her. "No. I'll probably be going to sleep soon." She paused for a second. "Thanks for the sketchbook - it's certainly much better than staring at the walls."

"OK. Well, I'll see you in the morning." Seo-jeong started toward her bedroom. Before she could take a step, Suyeon interrupted her.

"Wait. . . Seo-jong, can we talk for a second?"

Seo-jeong came back in and sat down on the edge of Suyeon's bed. "I think I can guess what this is about."

Suyeon nodded. "I know you're worried about me, but I think if you got to know her, you'd like Hae-rim."

Seo-jeong leaned forward. "Suyeon, she as much as admitted to being a criminal tonight. How much more do I need to know?"

Suyeon shook her head. "It's not like that. She's made some mistake, but who hasn't?"

"Who hasn't?" Seo-jeong was incredulous. "This, coming from the woman who fought a parking ticket because she felt it had been issued in error."

Suyeon sat up straight. "But it had been issued in error! There weren't any no parking signs on that block, and my video showed the judge that if you came from the direction I did, you wouldn't see any of the signs on the previous block."

"That's not the point," Seo-jeong said. "My point is, we know hardly anything about this woman, and part of what we know is bad!"

"But, she's kind," Suyeon protested. "You should see how she treats me when you're not around."

Seo-jeong sat quietly for a second. "I'm just worried about you, Suyeon. You have a tendency to trust where you shouldn't and I just don't want to see you get hurt again." Seo-jeong stood up and shrugged. "You're a grown woman, do what you want. Just try to stay out of trouble, okay?"

Suyeon nodded. "I'm being careful this time. Oh and Seo-jeong?. . . Thanks for worrying about me."

Seo-jeong nodded, then headed down the hall to her bedroom. Kicking the dirty clothes aside, she flopped down on the bed, just in time to hear her phone chirp. Pulling it out of her pocket, she saw it was a text from Soo-kyung: "Hey! Do you have a minute? I want to ask you a question!"

She looked at the clock - dinner service must have just ended. For Soo-kyung's messed up schedule, it was mid-afternoon. She quickly typed "As long as it's a quick question - I have to be at the bakery early tomorrow if you're going to have matcha profiteroles to serve."

Soo-kyung sent back a smily face and a note that said "I can't talk long anyway - I have to be at fish market early tomorrow to get the best mussels."

"So what's the question?" Seo-jeong stared impatiently at the clock. This conversation would be so much faster if Soo-kyung would just call her. There must be some reason she was keeping it in text.

"OK. Here's the question. . . " showed up on her screen. Seo-jeong groaned. In the time it had taken Soo-kyung to type that intro, she could have just typed the question. She waited.

Her phone chirped again. "Is Suyeon dating anybody right now?"

Seo-jeong shook her head. Soo-kyung had had a crush on Suyeon for how many years, and after all that time this was when she decided to try to do something about it? She rubbed her forehead, trying to figure out what she wanted to say. Finally it hit her - no one could be mad at her if she just told the truth. The truth from her point of view, at any rate. Typing carefully, she sent "She's met someone and they've had a couple of dates but I don't know how serious it is."

Soo-kyung sent a frowny face, followed by "So I shouldn't ask her out?"

Seo-jeong rolled her eyes. "Don't reject yourself. Make her reject you."

"You think so?"

Seo-jeong's fingers practically flew over the keyboard. "The worst that can happen is she'll say no, and even then, you're no worse off than you are now."

By the end of the conversation, she had Soo-kyung motivated to ask Suyeon out. 

Soo-kyung ended the conversation with one final note. "Thanks for everything! And be sure to come to Chez Lua on Monday - we'll be cooking So-eun's menu!"

Seo-jeong responded with a smiley face and a thumbs up, then put her phone down on the bedside table. She wondered how Soo-kyung would react when she found out So-eun was leaving to start a place of her own. She thought back to the time she'd spent hanging out with So-eun after the Mayor's Gala aand couldn't help wondering if So-eun was seeing anyone. "Nope," she told herself. "Doesn't matter if she is - with a new restaurant to start, she'll be too busy to ask you out, even if she is interested." After a string of disastrous dates, Seo-jeong was determined that her next date would be with someone who asked her out, because apparently she was terrible at picking people. Squeezing her eyes tightly shut, she rolled over and tried to get to sleep.

* * *

Late night was turning into early morning. The sun would be up soon, but still there were some ER doctors and nurses at Scrub Inn. Karaoke had begun, but was winding down. After Yoojung and Hyoj-ung had done a rousing rendition of Blackpink's "Kill This Love," Doyeon and Yuna had followed up by belting out Everglow's "Adios." After that, everyone felt that singing was over, that there was no way to top those two songs back to back. They all gathered around the table and started telling stories of exes from Hell. Yoojung caught Doyeon's eye and they made a wordless pact to not tell stories about their time spent together, not even if they told the stories without naming names. After a while, Shin Ryujin, one of the nurses, said "What about you, Dr. Choi? Got any horror stories to tell us?"

Yoojung shook her head. "For one thing, it's Yoojung - f or tonight we're all talking to each other informally. But seriously, I don't have any good stories. When I was in college I was so determined to get into med school, then once I got into med school I was determined to be valedictorian of my med school class, and now I'm chief resident. . . I just haven't had time to find a nightmare ex."

"That's so sad!" exclaimed Choi Jisu, another nurse. "We've got to fix Yoojung up with somebody!"

While the nurses were organizing their plot and Yoojung was trying to talk them out of it, Hy-jung, Doyeon, and Yuna said their good-byes and slipped out. 

"I'll see you two back at the ER tomorrow," Lucy said and she turned to walk to her apartment. "And don't be late - you know the world will never let us have two quiet days in a row, so expect to get slammed tomorrow."

After waving good-bye to Hyo-jung, Doyeon and Yuna turned to say good-bye to each other.

"Are you sure you don't want to come home with me?" Yuna asked.

Doyeon shook her head. "I need to take care of some things at my place. Besides, my apartment is in the opposite direction from yours, so if anyone saw me walk off with you, they'd get suspicious."

"I suppose you're right," Yuna said with a pout. 

"Hey, don't be like that," Doyeon said, trying to brighten the mood. "It's not like this is the only night in the world."

Yuna nodded. "That's true. I just. . . I had hoped to get to talk with you more tonight, and then Yoojung had to go and organize this outing."

'Don't be too hard on Yoojung," Doyeon interjected. "After all, Dr. Lee pretty much ordered her to do this. Besides, we can do something together this weekend."

This brought a smile back to Yuna's face. "You promise?"

Doyeon nodded. "Of course. Now, go home and get some sleep, and I'll see you this evening."

"You too," Yuna said. "And give me a call when you get home, so I'll know you got home safely."

After assuring her that she would, Doyeon turned and headed for her apartment, which was in a nondescript officetel a few blocks from the hospital in the opposite direction from Scrub Inn. "If I had known how often I'd end up going to Scrub Inn after work, I'd have looked harder for something in the buildings right around there," she thought. "Oh wellm the walk will do me good."

As she walked back to her apartment, Doyeon had the first chance to really think about her relationship with Yuna. It felt really weird that things between them had started during a night that she couldn't remember. What had they said that first night? Had they kissed? Had they had sex? She didn't know, and probably would never know. That kind of bothered her. 

From a purely logical standpoint, Luna was probably the last person she would have gotten involved with: Not just someone else at the hospital, but a nurse. And not just that, but her personal nurse. Plus there was the matter of Yuna's age and inexperience: She was so young and so new to the hospital that Doyeon wasn't entirely sure she appreciated how careful they had to be.

By this time she had reached her officetel. She grabbed the mail in her box - the usual mix of catalogs, credit card offers, and restaurant delivery menus - recycled most of it in the bin in the lobby, then headed up to the fifth floor.

As expected, her apartment was exactly the same as she had left it. Putting her purse down on the table, she grabbed a hangover drink from the fridge and started drinking it as she took her makeup off. She had taken her makeup off and was about to start getting undressed when she remembered she was supposed to call Yuna. She fished her phone out of her purse, dialed Yuna's number, and told her she'd made it home safely. All of a sudden, she felt like throwing caution to the wind - at least to a small extent.

"Are sure you still want me to come over tonight?" Doyeon asked.

"Of course!" Yuna practically squealed with delight.

"Okay. Give me a minute to pack my clothes and call a car and I'm on my way. Be watching for me at the back door of your building." That should do, she thought. After all, there was nobody actively watching them. She just had to be careful that no one stumbled onto their relationship. 

* * *

Soo-kyung showed up at the fish market with the first rays of the rising sun, only to find that So-eun was already there waiting for her, holding two iced coffee drinks.

"Here you go, chef," So-eun said as she handed Soo-kyung one of the drinks. "Iced americano, just like you like."

Soo-kyung took a long sip of the coffee and smiled at her assistant. "You keep doing this well, I'll find some way to keep you from leaving." They both laughed at this.

"So," So-eun said as they started walking through the market, saying hi to the shopkeepers who were just opening their stalls. Is there a particularly boat we want to try to get the mussels from?"

"I always try to buy from the Sea Dragon, if I can," Soo-kyung said, as she stopped to look at the board showing which ships were out fishing and which were already back to the harbor. "They're already in, berth 24."

So-eun looked around. "Which would be. . . this way?" She pointed the directed she expected them to go.

Soo-kyung shook her head. "Nope, this way." She pointed in the opposite direction. "The berths are numbered from left to right when you're looking out to sea, with berth 20 at the center of the market."

"Is there anything you don't know?" So-eun asked, looking at Soo-kyung admiringly.

"Of course," Soo-kyung said with a dismissive wave, "I just don't talk about those things, so that all my junior chefs think I'm a miracle worker."

When they arrived at berth 24, they found the captain of the Sea Dragon sitting in a lawn chair on the dock with a small cooler by his side. "Kim Soo-kyung! I figured I'd see you today! I've been here an hour and a half waiting for you!"

Soo-kyung pretended to look shocked. "You can't have!"

The captain laughed. "When you know where the mussels are, you don't have to spend all night finding them. The wholesaler's already been by twice, but I told him I was waiting for you. You going to make it worth my while?"

Soo-kyung nodded toward the cooler. "If the samples are as good as I'm expecting, I expect I will."

The captain reached over and slid the cooler toward Soo-kyung. So-eun noticed there was a stubby-bladed knife sitting on top of the cooler. Soo-kyung took the knife, then opened the cooler. She looked at the mussels inside it, then took one at random. Standing up, she quickly used the knife to pry it open. She poked at the mussel with her finger, then smelled it, then took a sip of the liquid surrounding it, then finally used the knife to detach the mussel from its shell Raising the shell to her lips, she slid the muscle into her mouth. She rolled it around with her tongue, chewed it a couple of times, then swallowed it. Letting out a pleased sigh, she looked at the captain and said "Perfect, as expected. What are you asking?"

Soo-kyung and the captain then entered into a fast-paced round of bargaining for the restaurant's mussels for the day. When they settled on a price - which was much faster than So-eun had expected - SOo-kyung pulled out her phone and transferred the money to the captain. As soon as he heard the beep indicating the money had reached his account, he smiled and shook hands with Soo-kyung. "One of my hands will have them mussels to you by ten o'clock," he said, "now if you'll excuse me, I've got to talk to the wholesaler about the rest of today's harvest."

As they walked off, So-eun looked over at Soo-kyung in admiration. "How'd you pull that off?" she asked Soo-kyung.

Soo-kyung leaned closer so she could talk more quietly as they walked. "Besides listing the boats, the departures board lists the wholesale and retail prices of the major species expected in port today. That gave me some idea of what I should expect to pay. I'm going to pay less than retail, because the captain won't give me all the amenities a retail dealer would, but I'm going to pay more than wholesale, obviously. Enough over the wholesale to cover the cost of having a hand deliver the mussels to us, plus enough profit to make it worth the captain's while to annoy the wholesaler a little bit. Not too much - the big wholesalers would never even notice the amount of mussels we just bought - but a little bit."

So-eun shook her head. "There's still so much I have to learn - I don't know how I'd learn it all even if I delayed starting my own place for another year."

Soo-kyung laughed. "There's always so much to learn - I still call Chef Jinjin at least once a week with a problem I can't solve myself, and I expect I'll hear from you at least that often."

So-eun gasped. "You'd let me do that?"

"Of course," Soo-kyung said with a smile. "I mean, we're still competitors, but I'd be on your side compared to some random chef I didn't know."

"That means a lot," So-eun said.

"Don't get too sentimental," Soo-kyung warned her. "I mean it when I say we're still competitors - I don't even like to think how many times Chef Jinjin has poached a party of VVIPs that I was just certain were coming to Chez Lua. Anyway, let's get back - if we hurry, we've got time to grab a quick nap before we have to start prepping for lunch.


	11. Challenges and alliances

The morning's baking had gone off without a hitch. Now Seo-jeong was loading her van with the match profiteroles for Chez Lua while Suyeon watched her discontentedly.

"I could help, you know," Suyeon said.

Seo-jeong passed by with another armload of bakery boxes. "I'm sure you could," she called out, "but I don't want to take any chances."

"Putting boxes in a van doesn't require a lot of thought," Suyeon grumbled. "I could have helped."

"Maybe you could have," Seo-jeong said as she took off her apron and hung it up, "but I wanted to be careful, and anyway, it's all done now. So are you going to ride along with me, or do you want to stay her and sulk."

"I'm perfectly capable of going with you and sulking at the same time," Suyeon said as she headed for the van.

Seo-jeong grabbed her purse and followed along behind Suyeon, locking the bakery behind her. "But if you come with me and sulk, I won't stop for bubble tea on the way back."

Suyeon looked over at Seo-jeong as they climbed into the van, her eyebrows arched. "You really think you can bribe me with bubble tea?"

Seo-jeong nodded, smiling smugly, as she started the van and pulled out of her parking spot.

Suyeon smiled back at her. "Well, you're right. This time, at any rate."

Seo-jeong laughed. "It's good to see you smile," she said.

"I haven't had a lot to smile about, the last few days," Suyeon said.

"Well, it's just for a few more days," Seo-jeong said.

"Hopefully," Suyeon said. "I've got to go back for clearange next Tuesday. They could decide to extend this another week."

"I don't think they will," Seo-jeong said. "You're doing fine, so I can't imagine them extending your brain rest."

"Well, that should fix everything," Suyeon said. "When the doctor says 'Ms. Ji, we'll have to extend your brain rest another week,' I'll just say 'but my baker says I'm fine," and they'll be all "oh. well nevermind then.'" She started laughing and after a moment of uncertainty, Seo-jeong joined in with her.

After just a few minutes they pulled up behind Chez Lua. Sei jumped out of the van and went to the kitchen door. "Soo-kyung!" she called out. "Tell me where you want your profiteroles and I'll unload them for you."

"You'll do no such thing," Soo-kyung said as she came out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on a towel. "That's what junior cooks are for. You two! Go unload the profiteroles and put them in the pastry cooler!" A pair of junior cooks scrambled to carry out Soo-Kyung's orders.

Seo-jeong laughed. "I've got to get me some junior bakers to do stuff like that. Someday. . ." She sighed. Looking toward the kitchen, she asked 'Is So-eun in?"

Soo-kyung nodded. "Yeah, right through there. Is Suyeon out at the van?"

Seo-jeong nodded. "Yeah. Good luck." She walked off into the kitchen, calling So-eun's name.

Soo-kyung wiped her hands on the towel again, then tossed it in the laundry bin.

"Well," she said to herself, "it's put up or shut up time." She walked out to the van, where Suyeon was standing leaning against the fender, watching the junior chefs unloading all the pastries. "Hey Suyeon," she said, "how's everything?"

Suyeon shrugged. "Pretty good, considering I can't do anything."

Soo-kyung pondered this a moment. "So. . . would doctor's orders stretch far enough to let me take you out to dinner tomorrow night?"

Suyeon looked up, surprised. "Don't you have to be here?" She pointed toward the restaurant with her eyes.

Soo-kyung laughed and shook her head. "So-eun's good enough to handle being in charge now, so I can have an occasional night off. Tomorrow's one of those nights off, and I'd like to spend it with you."

"Me? . . . I mean, I . . ." Suyeon sputtered for a moment before gradually regaining her composure. "I'd love to! Thank you!"

"If I pick you up at 6, will that give you time to get dressed?"

"You mean from my hard day of sitting around the bakery doing nothing? Yeah, I think I can manage to be ready by 6." Suyeon laughed, and Soo-kyung joined in with her.

Just then Seo-jeong came up behind Soo-kyung and clapped her on the shoulder. "Okay," she said, "all your pastries are unloaded. Now we'd better get going - I promised Suyeon a bubble tea, and we've got to hurry if we're going to get back to the bakery by opening time."

Soo-kyung stepped back. "By all means, can't have you breaking a promise to such a lovely lady!" Smiling at Suyeon, she added "And I'll see you tomorrow at 6. Take care of yourself!"

As they drove off, Suyeon's eyes suddenly grew wide. "Oh my God!" she exclaimed, clapping her hands to her mouth.

Seo-jeong looked over with concern. "What?"

Slowly bringing her hands down, Suyeon said quietly "Soo-kyung just asked me out. . . and I said yes!"

Seo-jeong smiled smugly as she parked the van in front of the bubble tea shop.

Suyeon looked over, her eyes still wide. "What do I do?"

Seo-jeong shrugged. "I wasn't there for the whole conversation, but based on what I did hear, all you've got to do is be ready to go by 6 tomorrow. I'd recommend you wear that new blue dress you bought last week."

"But what do I do about-" Suyeon began.

"You want a blueberry bubble tea, right?" Seo-jeong asked as she climbed out of the van.

"Yes," Suyeon managed to say as Seo-jeong closed the door, leaving the rest of her question unasked.

* * *

Jung Hae-rim carefully masked her feelings as she stretched before her bout, but on the inside she was dancing. On her phone, now securely locked and tucked away in her gym bag, she had managed to get pictures of about 3/4 of the audience, including the mayor. She was particularly pleased that she got a picture of the mayor talking to several of the high-ranking jopok. That picture alone would have been enough to make tonight worthwhile. But now it was time to stop thinking about that and concentrate on tonight's fight. She stared across the ring at her opponent, Kim Seol-hyun. Seol-hyun had about a 3-inch height advantage, so that would probably come with a reach advantage as well. The only way Hae-rim was going to come out of tonight victorious and relatively unscathed would be to get up close, inside Seol-hyun's defenses, and even then this wasn't going to be a safe or easy victory. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the flurry of waving stacks of money outside the ring intensify as people made their final bets. The referee stepped to the center of the ring, introduced the fighters, then stepped to the side. So long as no one pulled a weapon, that would probably be the last thing he did until it was time for him to raise the victor's hand at the end of the bout - these matches weren't notable for their adherence to competition rules, and most of the audience would be disappointed if they went the whole night without seeing the flow of blood, hearing the crunch of breaking bones.

As she settled into her fighting stance, Hae-rim grabbed her right elbow and tested the integrity of that arm. She'd kept the brace on it until time to leave home for the matches, but she knew if she wore it to the match, that would just be an invitation for Seolhyun to target that arm. Hae-rim grabbed her left elbow and tested that arm, so that Seol-hyun wouldn't get a clue from her actions. Suddenly the bell rang, signalling the start of the match. Quicker than thought, Seol-hyun stepped forward and connected with Hae-rim's right side with a roundhouse kick. Hae-rim exhaled sharply as the pain spread around her chest and up and down her side. Moving quickly, she grabbed Seol-hyun's leg with her right arm as she stepped forward and swung at her face with her left. Seol-hyun leaned back to avoid the punch, but in the process unbalanced herself and fell over backward. Hae-rim tried to stomp on her ankle, but Seol-hyun rolled aside and got to her feet, leaving Hae-rim stomping on the empty mat. Before Seol-hyun had a chance to prepare herself, Hae-rim sprang forward and pummeled her with a series of blows to the stomach. Seol-hyun elbowed her to the head. Hae-rim knew she had to get closer in, so she charged Seol-hyun, wrapping her arms around her waist. As the two of them collided with the rope, Hae-rim planted her feet and twisted, throwing Seol-hyung to the ground.

"It's going to be a long night," she thought, as she watched Seol-hyun get up again.

For ten rounds the fight went back and forth like that, neither fighter able to gain a clear advantage. In the seventh round, Hae-rim's forehead started bleeding from one of Seol-hyun's punches, so far the rest of the fight she had to contend with partially obscured vision on that side. In the eighth round, Hae-rim was pretty sure she broke Seol-hyun's hand with a knife-hand block, but that wasn't enough to take Seol-hyun out of the fight. Finally, early in the 11th round, Hae-rim saw her opening and a spinning kick to Seol-hyun's head left her unconscious on the mat. After the referee had announced Hae-rim as her winner, Hae-rim bowed to her patron, then to the Prince of Jopok, before grabbing her gym bag and heading for the exit.

* * *

Hae-rim lay back on the gurney as Doyeon sewed up the laceration over her left eye.

"I suppose you're going to try telling me that this was a result of more 'overenthusiastic sparring'?"

Hae-sighed. "Can you shut the door?"

Doyeon nodded. "Sure. Just let me finish this knot." After finishing the final suture, Doyeon closed the exam room door, then came and sat on a stool next to Hae-rim's gurney.

"Okay. I'm sure you probably know, there's a thing called doctor-patient confidentiality." Doyeon said, in hopes of getting Hae-rim to open up.

Hae-rim rolled to face Doyeon. "Does that mean I can tell you something and you won't put it in the hospital computers?" she asked.

Doyeon nodded. "I'm technically not supposed to do that, but yes. Anything you choose to tell me tonight won't go in your hospital records."

Hae-rim closed her eyes and laid still for long enough that Doyeon thought she might have fallen asleep. Suddenly, though, she opened her eyes and asked "Have you heard the rumors about the underground martial arts matches run by organized crime?"

Doyeon nodded. "Sure. Everyone's heard those, but no one will ever admit to having been at one. I'm not so sure they're real."

Hae-rim laughed ruefully. "Oh, they're real, Doyeon. All too real."

"And that's where you keep getting these injuries?" Doyeon asked.

Hae-rim only nodded.

"Why don't you stop?" Doyeon asked, her concern evident in her eyes.

Hae-rim shook her head. "It's not that simple," she said. "I can't just stop. For a lot of different reasons. In about a month I'll be able to, but not right now."

Doyeon's sparked. "If you keep taking hits like the one that busted your forehead open tonight, in a month you could have permanent brain damage."

Hae-rim was silent for a moment. When she spoke again, her voice was even quieter. "I know. And I'm trying to avoid that. But this is something I have to do, at least for a little bit longer. I can't tell you why right now, but I need you to trust me that it's a good reason."

Doyeon looked dubiously at Hae-rim. "And what about Suyeon? What if something happens to her?"

Hae-rim's face grew grim. "I'm watching out for her. I'll do my best to keep her safe."

Doyeon scowled. "Forgive me if I'm not exactly filled with hope when a woman who gets beat up on the regular promises to keep my friend safe. We've got to let her know what's going on, so she can watch out for herself."

"She knows," Hae-rim said.

Doyeon's jaw dropped in disbelief. "Suyeon knows you fight for the jopok and she still associates with you? I don't believe it."

Hae-rim shook her head wearily. "Suyeon knows it could be dangerous to be around me, but she doesn't know why. And I need you not to tell her."

"Not tell her?" Doyeon realized she was starting to talk too loud, so she leaned toward Hae-rim and consciously made her voice quieter. "She deserves to know!"

"She does," Hae-rim said with a nod. "But the more she knows, the more danger she's in. In about a month I'll be able to come clean with her about everything - everything, even more than I've told you - but until then, she needs not to know."

Doyeon stared Hae-rim in the eye for a long moment. "I don't know why I feel like I can trust you, but I do. But in exchange for this promise, I need a promise from you."

Hae-rim's eyes narrowed. "And what would that be."

Doyeon sat up straight, put on her most serious face. "I need you to come in to get your injuries treated. I need you to stay here until you're examined. And when we let you go, I need you to follow your aftercare instructions. For the next month you need to be in your top fighting shape, because you're not just fighting for yourself now, you're fighting for Suyeon. Who's going to protect her if something happens to you?"

Hae-rim nodded. "I can do that."

"Now then," Doyeon said, resuming her professional demeanor, "besides the laceration, is there anything else you need to me to examine?"

Hae-rim winced as she raised her right arm over her head. Reaching across with her left hand, she rubbed her right side. "I don't think the ribs over here are broken, but I can't say for sure they're not. You'll probably want to do a chest x-ray."

Doyeon stood up and felt Hae-rim's ribs, trying to see if she could detect any sign of a break. "I'm not feeling any obvious breaks, but an x-ray is a good idea. I'll order it, then once the results are back, we can get you out of here."

Doyeon turned and walked to the door Stopping with her hand on the handle, she looked back at Hae-rim. "I'm serious. If you're gone one minute before I discharge you, I'll call Suyeon and tell her everything."

Hae-rim nodded. "I'm serious too. I'll be here."

Doyeon smiled. "I hope so," she said. Then she opened the door and stepped out into the hall, calling for her nurse. "Yuna! Ms. Jung needs a chest x-ray, two views, flat and right oblique."


	12. Disappointments

Doyeon and Yuna had gone to Yuna's favorite sports bar. They were sharing a plate of cheese fries when suddenly Yuna tapped Doyeon on the nose with the tip of a fry.

"Hey! What's wrong? Obviously you're worried about something," she said.

Doyeon rubbed a smear of cheese off her nose. "I just keep thinking about one of tonight's patients," she said quietly.

"I don't even have to guess," Yuna said. She stopped to take a sip of her beer. "It's Ms. Jung."

Doyeon nodded. "Exactly." She took a big gulp of her beer. "I'm trying to help her, but I'm afraid she's going to get hurt again."

"Oh, I've seen her records - she's definitely going to get hurt again," Yuna said.

Doyeon rolled her eyes. "You're not exactly helping."

"Sure I am. Watch." She gestured toward the fries on the plate. "This slice of pepper is Ms. Jung. This black olive over here is you. The cheese is the ER. That pile of fries is wherever Ms. Jung goes to get injured. Now, when Ms. Jung goes to get injured-" she picked up the slice of pepper and dropped it on the fries "-you can't go with her. You're stuck in the cheese. You have to wait until she comes back-" she picked up the fry with the slice of pepper on it, swiped it through the cheese, picking up the black olive "-and then you do your best to help her." She popped the fry with the pepper and olive into her mouth.

"Hey!" Doyeon exlaimed. "You just ate me!"

Yuna shook her head. "No, but you come back to my place later. . ."

Doyeon laughed. "You're so bad. But you're right - there's nothing I can do but patch Ms. Jung up each time she comes to the ER and-"

"Hey!" 

They both looked up - Yoojung was headed for their table.

"I didn't know you guys knew about this place," Joojung said.

"I just found out about it," Doyeon said. "Yuna told me. We wanted to get a bite to eat but didn't want to deal with the crowd at Scrub Inn. We were so busy today we didn't have time to eat lunch. You want to join us?"

Yoojung looked around. "No, you two look like you were having fun by yourself."

"There's not another table," Doyeon said. "You might as well join us."

Having just come to the same conclusion, Yoojung sat down across from them. Signalling the waitress, she ordered a beer and an order of fried chicken.

Gesturing toward the TV with her beer, Yoojung asked "What's on?"

"Oh," Yuna said, "we were focused on our food, hadn't even looked at the screens yet."

"And what is this - one order of cheese fries for both of you? That doesn't sound like the Doyeon I know!"

"We got the fries while we decided what else to get," Doyeon said. Signalling the waitress, she ordered fried chicken, deluxe tteokbokki, and samgyeopsal.

"Now that's more like it," Yoojung said.

They chatted back and forth while waiting for their food to arrive. "Am I imagining things," Yoojung asked, "or was Jung Hae-rim back in the ER tonight?"

"She was," Doyeon said. "I treated her, and I managed to get her to contract for safety!"

"That's great!" Yoojung said, a smile spreading across her face. Looking over at Yuna, she asked "Did you ever look to see what they're showing on the TV?"

Yuna nodded. "It's American hockey, the San Jose Sharks against the Colorado Avalanche. They're still scoreless in the second period."

Yoojung took a sip of her beer. "That should be good." Just then the waitress brought their food and even the game was forgotten while they ate.

When they had finished eating, Yoojung looked at Doyeon and said "I should be going. Do you want to walk with me?"

Yuna looked up suddenly. "Oh, you two live close to each other?"

Doyeon nodded. "We live in the same officetel, about a block-" she pointed "-that way."

"Oh," Yuna said. "My apartments about 2 blocks that way-" she pointed a different direction "-so I'd better be going. It was nice getting to hang out with you." She stood up and got ready to leave. 

"Are you sure you'll be okay walking by yourself?" Doyeon asked.

"Oh yes," Yuna said, "I grew up near here. I know the area like the back of my hand. See you tomorrow!"

After she left, Doyeon and Yoojung left for their building. As they walked along, they chatted like they had in medical school. "You'd better be careful," Yoojung said, as they let themselves into their building.

"Careful about what?" Doyeon asked nervously.

"Your nurse," Yoojung said. "What's her name, again?"

"Yuna."

"Right," Yoojung said. "Anyway, Yuna's apparently got a crush on you."

Doyeon shook her head. "You must be mistaken."

Yoojung smiled. "We'll see. Just stay on your toes and remember the hospital dating policy."

Doyeon scoffed. "If the hospital enforced the daying policy, every doctor on staff have been fired."

Yoojung shook her head. "That's different. Those end in marriage. That's not really an option for us, you know."

Doyeon nodded. "I'll be careful."

Yoojung pressed the elevator door. "You'd better be - I'd miss you if you were gone."

* * *

Ji Eun made it back to the garage just in time to see her mechanic in an argument with a bicycle messenger.

"I'm telling you," Young-jun was saying, "this is an auto shop, not a tool rental."

"I hear you," the messenger, "I'm just saying it's foolish of you to turn me down. I'm offering 20 thousand won to rent 2 wrenches for 2 minutes."

"And I just said-" Young-jin stopped short when he saw Ji Eun. "Hey, Doc," he said, wiping his hands with cleanser as he made his way over to her. "Unfortunately, your car's not ready. I had to order some parts and they're not here yet." 

Ji Eun's face fell. "How much longer?"

Young-jun looked up at the ceiling in thought for a moment. "It should get here Monday. It's it's here before lunchtime, I should be done by Monday evening. If it's later, it'll take me 'til Tuesday. I'll give you a call Monday at lunch and let you know."

"Sounds good," she said, with a somewhat resigned note in her voice. She hated being without her car on a weekend. "Um. . . if you don't mind me asking - why won't you rent tools to that bike messenger? It seems like he's willing to pay quite a bit for how little he's asking."

"Oh, that. . ." Young-jun motioned as if brushing aside the issue. "Bikies are like fleas. If you let one get in, next thing you know you've got a full infestation."

"Or," Ji Eun said, leaning in closer, "why don't you do this-" 

Young-jun's eyebrows went up and his eyes flashed with excitement as he heard Ji Eun's plan. "That just might work!" he exclaimed. "Hey bikie!" he called out.

"My name's Alex," the bike messenger said.

"Okay, Alex," Young-jun said with a grimace. "Tell you what. For 50 thousand won you can use any of my tools, all month long. But, you've got to tell the other bikies that I don't let bikies work in my shop, so there's no point even asking me."

Alex stood up straighter. "You really think I'd betray the trust of my fellow bike messengers like that?"

Young-jun raised an eyebrow. "I think those packages in your backpack are supposed to be delivered by end of business today, and there's no way you'll make it without a bike."

Alex nodded. "Good point. Any of the other guys would probably do the same if they were in my position so: You've got a deal."

And with that, Alex handed over a wad of crumpled bills, shook Young-jin's hand, and vanished into the back of the shop with his bike.

Young-jin walked back over to Ji Eun. "That was a clever deal, Doc. How'd you come up with that?"

Ji Eun blushed. "It was just a matter of looking deeper than the first symptom, to see what was really causing the problem. It's what I do in the ER every day. I imagine fixing a car is much the same."

"Pretty much," Young-jin said. "Pretty much." Just then Young-jin looked ove at another customer coming into the shop. Ji Eun looked back over her shoulder to see a handsome man with dramatic grey-dyed hair. "Excuse me, Doc," Young-jin said as he hurried over to greet the newcomer. "Mr. Baek! I'm afraid I'm going to have to tell you the same thing I just told the Doc here - your car's not ready, won't be done until Monday, Tuesday at the latest. I'll give you a call around lunchtime to let you know which."

Mr. Baek accepted this news with good grace. "It can't be helped," he said with a shrug, "and you always do a great job on my car."

"Thank you very much," said Young-jin, "now if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to work." And with that, Ji Eun was left alone with Mr. Baek.

He looked over at her and had a moment of recognition. "I recognize you!" he said. "You're Dr. Lee! You were in one of our recent promotional campaigns!"

Ji Eun blushed. "Guilty as charged," she said. "And you are?"

Mr. Baek handed over his business card. "Baek Myung-han. I work in the hospital's PR department." Looking around, he added. "Since we're apparently both going to be without our cars this evening, maybe we could keep each other company on the bus home, if we're headed in the same direction."

A quick conversation revealed that they lived a couple of stops apart on the same bus line, so they decided to ride together.

"But if you don't mind," Myung-han added, "I didn't have time for lunch today, and I know doctors are prone to skipping lunch too. Would you allow me to treat you to dinner before we embark on our journey?"

Ji Eun laughed at the idea of calling a 15-minute bus ride a "journey." Her thoughts momentarily flashed to the hospital dating policy, which she had recently reminded Yoojung about, but she just as quickly decided that a random dinner between chance acquaintances hardly qualified as a date. "I'd love to," she said, "do you have anyplace in mind?"

"There's a little Italian place around the corner that I've been wanting to check out. Several of my colleagues have recommended it."

"That certainly sounds better than having a frozen dinner at home. Let's try it." Just then, she happened to notice that he had the crooked handle of a red umbrella hanging over his arm. "I hadn't heard that we're expecting rain!" she said with surprise.

He laughed. "We're not. In my field, it always helps to have some tag that helps people remember you. I'm the guy who always carries an umbrella."

Ji Eun joined in his laughter. "Well, Mr. Always-Carries-An-Umbrella," she said, "I'm Dr. Did-Indeed-Skip-Lunch, so let's find this Italian place of yours."

* * *

"Bye! Thank you for a wonderful evening!" Suyeon called out to Soo-kyung as she shut the apartment door. "We'll come to Chez Lua on Monday to support So-eun!"

As soon as Suyeon had shut the door, she leaned back against the wall, took a deep breath and released it. Seo-jeong paused the drama she was watching and looked over at Suyeon. 

"How was your date?" Seo-jeong asked.

Suyeon slipped off her shoes and came to sit on the couch by Seo-jeong. "I went because I know how hard it must have been for Soo-kyung to ask me out after we've been friends for so long - that was a huge risk for her - but I really don't think we're cut out to be a couple and now I've got to figure out how to let her down gently if she asks me out again."

Seo-jeong blinked. "It was that bad?"

Suyeon leaned her head back against the cushions. "The restaurant she took us to was so fancy - half the time I didn't even know what I was eating. And sometimes the food tricked me - it was one thing, but had been made up to look like something else! Then we went out dancing. That was nice, but I couldn't really enjoy it because I so full of strange food, I was afraid of getting sick on the dance floor."

Seo-jeong reached out and stroked Suyeon's hair. "Aww, poor baby! You had a rough night."

Suyeon nodded and made a show of pouting.

"Tell you what," Seo-jeong said, "how about if I talk to Soo-kyung and try to see to it that you never have another night like this."

Suyeon's eyes got wide. "You'd do that for me? Oh, thank you! Thank you!"

Seo-jeong held up her hand to stop the effusive flow of praise. "Don't thank me yet. I'm not making any promises, and you might still have to go out on more dates with her."

"Even after tonight?"

Seo-jeong nodded. "Even after tonight. Think about it - how would you feel if you had one chance with the girl of your dreams and you blew it that one time and would never get another chance."

Suyeon looked startled. "I'm the girl of her dreams?"

Seo-jeong nodded. "Apparently so, or she wouldn't have risked asking you out." She stood up. "Let me go give her a call and see what kind of damage control I can do."

Suyeon looked up at Seo-jeong. "Thank you."

Seo-jeong tossed the remote to Suyeon. "Why don't you watch one of your shows. You need the stress relief."

Once she was in her room with the door shut behind her, Seo-jeong pulled out her phone and called Soo-kyung.

"I've got a feeling things didn't go well tonight," Soo-kyung said.

"You could say that," Seo-jeong said, admiring her friend's grasp of the obvious. "Where did you take her for dinner?"

"O Tigre." Even through the phone Seo-jeong could hear Soo-kyung's pride that she'd been able to score a table at the current "it" restaurant.

Seo-jeong sighed. "I don't know how many favors you had to call in to get that table, but I'm afraid they were wasted."

"I thought she'd like it," Soo-kyung said, sounding puzzled. "She likes the food at Chez Lua, and O Tigre is just an upgraded version of what I do."

"She likes the kimchi stew at Chez Lua," Seo-jeong corrected her. "If I'd let her, she 'd just order that, every time. Suyeon is not an adventurous eater, so going to O Tigre would be her idea of a meal from hell." Seo-jeong considered calling things off between Suyeon and Soo-kyung herself, but then remembered that the alternative was for Suyeon to keep going out with Hae-rim, so she pressed on. "I'm pretty sure I've convinced Suyeon to be willing to go out with you again, but you'll need to apologize for tonight's meal. You're probably better off letting her pick where you eat next time. And maybe make it a lower pressure date than Friday night. Maybe lunch. Or Sunday brunch."

"Brunch!" Seo-jeong could hear that Soo-kyung's usual optimism has returned. "That's a great idea. Would it be too soon to call her when I get off the phone with you?"

Seo-jeong thought of Suyeon sitting on the couch watching one of her historical dramas, probably halfway asleep by now. "Yeah, tonight would be too soon. Why don't you try tomorrow afternoon. And remember what I told you."

"You got it," Soo-kyung said. "Well, I'm going to pass by Chez Lua to see how they did without me, and I'll call Suyeon tomorrow. Bye!"

When Seo-jeong came out of her bedroom, Suyeon was, as she had imagined, half asleep, but she perked up when she saw Seo-jeong.

"That was fast!" Suyeon said. "What happened?"

"I talk to Seo-kyung, gave her from friendly pointers about where she went wrong tonight, and pointed her in a better direction for next time."

"Next time? So I am going to have to go through this again."

Seo-jeong rolled her eyes. "I already told you that you almost certainly would. Expect a call from Soo-kyung tomorrow afternoon. She's probably ask you out for Sunday brunch!"

Suyeon's eyes flashed in indignation. "Sunday brunch? Sunday brunch is sacred! I go to Harvey's, I eat omurice and an English muffin, and I drink a soju sunrise. It's the cornerstone of my week!" 

"Well, I told Soo-kyung to let you pick the restaurant next time, so Harvey's is still in the running. And tell me the truth - it you could edit out the restaurant, was tonight really that bad?"

Suyeon thought for a long moment. "It's hard to think of that, because I was so stressed about the food, but I think it possibly could have been a good night otherwise."

Seo-jeong nodded. "Carry that positive thought with you into the future. If you go places you like and still have a bad time, then we can start coming up with a plan to let her down easily."

Suyeon looked up, as if a sudden thought had just occurred to her. "What about Hae-rim?"

Seo-jeong tried to mask her true feelings. "Have you heard from her since Wednesday?"

Suyeon was forced to admit that she hadn't.

"And maybe you won't hear from her again. Maybe you were just a flavor of the moment for her, and now she's on to a different flavor." Seo-jeong managed to keep herself from adding that she hoped Suyeon never heard from Hae-rim again, because that would be just the sort of thing that would drive Suyeon straight to her.

"Maybe. You could be right." Suyeon didn't sound at all convinced.


	13. Uncertainties

Doyeon looked down at her phone. Ten o'clock. Was it too early? Was it too late? Well, it would have to do - if she called any later, they wouldn't be able to make the bus. The phone rang only rang once before Yuna picked up.

"Do you have plans for today?" Doyeon asked.

Doyeon could picture Yuna shrugging as she answered "Well, I just washed my hair, and I was planning on doing some laundry, but I can do that tomorrow if you want to get together."

"Well," Doyeon said, "since Yoojung showed up last night and interrupted us, I thought maybe today we could go someplace where no one from the hospital would see us?"

"Ooh! Sounds mysterious! What should I wear?" Doyeon could tell that Yuna was just dying to ask where they were going, but didn't want to spoil the surprise.

"Dress casual, and wear comfortable shoes - we're going to be doing some walking. Meet me at Myeongdong Station, exit 2, at 11:15."

"Okay, see you there!"

After hanging up, Doyeon walked to her closet to decide what to wear. Keeping in mind what she'd advised Yuna as far as clothes, she settled on a light-green shirtdress and a pair of white sneakers. After trying a number of different possibilities, she decided to wear her hair down. She put on some sunscreen and looked at her phone - she had just enough time to get to Myeongdong, buy the tickets, and meet Yuna.

As it turned out, Doyeon was cutting it a little bit closer than she thought - she made it to Myeongdong, bought the tickets, and walked up to exit 2 to see Yuna already there, looking around for her. She waved, and used the time it took Yuna to walk over to check her out. She had her blonde hair up in a high ponytail was wearing overall shorts with a white T-shirt, a pair of pink sunglasses, and the same white sneakers as Doyeon.

"You look so cute!" Doyeon exclaimed.

Yuna blushed. "Awww, thank you! You too." After looking around the station, she looked conspiratorially at Doyeon and asked "So, where are we going?"

Doyeon pointed to the bus stop next to the station. "In about five minutes, a bus is going to pull up there. We'll get on board, and in just a few hours we'll be at the Pohang International Fireworks Festival! We'll roam around the festival, shopping, playing games, and eating delicious snack foods until sunset, when the big fireworks show starts. Then we'll take the bus back, arriving at Myeongdong at 3:30 in the morning, at which point we can take a cab to your place or mine, whichever we prefer, while everyone else is asleep." 

"Wow!" Yuna exclaimed. "If I didn't know it was impossible, I'd swear you spent weeks planning this."

"Hours, actually," Doyeon said. "I woke up at 6:30 this morning and couldn't get back to sleep."

"Awww, that's so sweet!" Yuna gushed. "I owe you a kiss once we're on the bus."

"Only one kiss?" Doyeon pouted.

"No, you silly girl," Yuna teased, "you get all the kisses!"

Even if Doyeon didn't get all the kisses, she certainly got enough that she was enjoying the bus ride enough to be sorry when it ended. The festival was everything they hoped for as well - lots of food, lots of games, lots of quiet corners for stolen kisses. They played a ring toss game and Doyeon won Yuna a giant stuffed bear, which she promptly named Dr. Kim and kept up a running monologue to it about what a great day she was having. Doyeon found that even though she couldn't remember how she and Yuna had gotten together, she was really glad that they had - Yuna had completely captured her heart.

When sunset was near, they bought a cup of sauteed dried shrimp to share and laid out on a chaise longue on the beach. The fireworks were amazing, easily putting to shame any fireworks display Doyeon had ever seen before. Fireworks of every concievable size, shape, and color kept the sky illuminated for over an hour. In the silence after the last explosion, Doyeon leaned over to Yuna, kissed her, and said "I love you."

Yuna's eyes grew huge and she was uncharacteristically silent. After several of the longest seconds Doyeon had ever experienced, she asked "Is it okay if I'm not ready to say that just yet?"

Doyeon reassured her that of course it was okay. They ended up getting into a serious conversation that lasted half the bus ride home. It turned out that Yuna had just recently gotten out of a relationship with a woman who said she loved her, but at the same time was always telling her she was too immature and too loud and too daring and just "too. . . me" as Yuna finally summed it up. She said that honestly she had thought she and Doyeon would be just a one night thing. "Well, a one night and the day after thing," she amended. She was surprised that Doyeon was still interested in her and felt like the whole thing was just too good to be true. Doyeon gave her a reassuring hug and said that of course she was still interested, that Yuna was wonderful.

"You say that now," Yuna said, "but I'm afraid of what will happen when you know me better."

"We'll cross that bridge if we come to it," Doyeon said. "For now I'm enjoying being with you, and I hope you're enjoying being with me, even if we never do have as much time together and we'd like because of the stupid hospital dating policy."

Yuna snuggled up against Doyeon, then draped her bear, Dr. Kim, across them both. "I like hearing you say that," she said. "After I broke up with Mina, I was afraid I've never find anyone, and then I met you, and since then it's been just a whirlwind. I'm loving it, but it's a lot to take in, you know?"

Doyeon was in the process of reassuring Yuna that indeed she did know when she heard a quiet snore. She looked down and saw that Yuna had fallen asleep. She put her arm around her and held her close, enjoying the rest of the ride in silence.

* * *

Suyeon showed up to Harvey's at 10 a.m., her usual time. She was shown to her usual table in the back corner of the restaurant. But she stopped the waiter from bringing her her usual brunch of omurice and an English muffin, plus a soju sunrise to drink. "Just the drink for now," she said. "I'm expecting someone."

So Suyeon sat in the back corner of the restaurant, watching people and sipping her drink until suddenly a shadow fell across the table.

"Is this seat taken?"

Suyeon looked up and smiled. "It is now. Have a seat!"

Hae-rim sat down across from Suyeon. "I was so glad you called me yesterday morning," she said.

Suyeon smiled at Hae-rim but inside she was squirming a little. The reason she had called Hae-rim yesterday morning was because she knew Soo-kyung was going to be calling that afternoon. By making the date with Hae-rim, she was able to avoid brunch with Soo-kyung. It meant she'd had to agree to lunch with Soo-kyung on Monday, but if that was the price she had to pay to get the brunch she wanted, she'd gladly pay it. It wasn't that spending time with Soo-kyung was miserable, just that Hae-rim had the advantage of being new and mysterious, and of having asked Suyeon out first.

The waiter came back, confirmed Suyeon's order, then took Hae-rim's. As he left, Suyeon asked him to adjust the blinds on the window opposite her - the sun was shining in her eyes and blinding her. Once he had done so, Suyeon was able to see Hae-rim's face. When she did she saw that she had a bandage above her left eye.

"What happened?" Suyeon asked, gesturing toward Hae-rim's forehead.

Hae-rim raised her hand to the bandage, as if she had forgotten it was there. She looked down, then up at Suyeon. "I got injured during training."

Suyeon looked concerned. "First your arm, now this - are you sure the people you're training with aren't trying to kill you?"

Hae-rim laughed grimly. "No, I'm not," she said, then, seeing that Suyeon wasn't amused by her attempt at humor, the added "I'm in an advanced course of study. I've been in it for the past year, and I've only got a month to go. I'd hate to drop out now - then all the injuries of the past year would be for nothing."

They fell silient as the waiter brought their food. They ate the first few bites in silence, then Hae-rim looked up at Suyeon and said "You got me to talking about my injury, and I forgot to check on you. How are you doing?"

Suyeon smiled wanly. "I'll be fine, provided I don't die of boredom first.It's been long enough from the injury now that I can watch TV, but I've still got to miss another week of work, and I'm honestly not sure how much more TV I can watch!"

"It's a little late now," Hae-rim said, "but I've put some extra padding around those pillars."

"That's good," Suyeon said, taking a sip of her drink.

Hae-rim looked at Suyeon's drink. "Is it okay for you to be drinking, so soon after your injury?"

Suyeon shook her head. "Probably not," she said, "but this is mostly juice, with just one shot of soju, and I only have the one. It's just, I've had brunch here every Sunday since I got my first job after college, and I always get the same thing. The whole week would feel wrong if for some reason I didn't."

Hae-rim held up her hands. "I'm certainly the last one who should be fussing at someone about not obeying their doctor's orders. I was just concerned about you."

"Well, thank you," Suyeon said, taking another sip of her drink. "That's sweet."

Hae-rim laughed. "I've been called a lot of things," she said, "but I can't remember anyone ever calling me sweet."

Suyeon smiled warmly at her. "Maybe that's because they don't see you the way I do." 

Hae-rim blushed, thanked Suyeon, then suddenly became very interested in her breakfast.

After they'd finished brunch, Suyeon suggested they go for a walk in the park. As they walked along, Suyeon impulsively reached out and took Hae-rim's hand in hers. She could feel the scars of countless injuries on Hae-rim's hand, but somehow it still felt right in hers. Suyeon glanced over at Hae-rim. The two of them were so different - Suyeon always playing it safe while Hae-rim got injured enough to be on a first name basis with all the local ER staff - but maybe that was the source of the attraction - the difference. 

"So. . . " Hae-rim said, "I've seen what you usually do for brunch on Sundays. What do you usually do after that?"

Suyeon blushed. "I usually go do my grocery shopping for the week, then go home and watch a historical drama while I do my laundry?"

Hae-rim smiled. "So this is what it's like to have a normal life. Do we need to go to the grocery store now?"

"No." Suyeon shook her head. "I did my grocery shopping yesterday."

"You did?" Haerim asked with with a grin.

Suyeon's blush deepened. "And the laundry."

Hae-rim laughed. "So I've got you all to myself today?"

"For as long as you want me," Suyeon said quietly.

"Don't say that unless you mean it," Hae-rim said.

Suyeon fell quiet, not sure what to say.

* * *

Hyo-jung dropped the shot of soju in her glass of beer, then drained the whole thing at one go. She knew she was near the point where she should stop drinking, if not past it, but she was bored and feeling sorry for herself. The people she would have normally hung out with were all occupied: So-eun was busy prepping for cooking her own menu at the restaurant tomorrow - Hyo-jung made a mental note to go to Chez Lua for lunch - and Doyeon was too tied up in Yuna to notice anyone else. Hyo-jung mentally kicked herself; she had been interested in Doyeon for years, but had held back because of the hospital dating policy, and now Shin Yuna came along and scooped Doyeon up in nothing flat.

The bartender looked at Hyo-jung, raising an eyebrow inquisitively. She gestured to her glasses and nodded. Suddenly out of the corner of her eye she saw a small, well-manicured hand slap a debit card down on the bar and heard a familiar voice say "Put all her drinks on my tab, and I'll have whatever she's drinking." Hyo-jung looked to her right and saw Yoojung sitting on the stool next to her.

"Hey Doc!" Hyo-jung said with a lazy smile. "What brings you out to Scrub Inn tonight?"

Yoojung accepted her card back from the bartender, tucked it in her phone case, and downed the soju shot the bartender placed in front of her without even waiting for the beer. "I was feeling lonely and bored, decided that coming out for a drink was better than sitting at home watching TV, and then when I got here I saw you. You looked like you could use some company too."

Hyo-jung nodded. "You've got no idea, Doc." Again she dropped her shot of soju in her beer and downed it all in one go. "No idea."

"You keep that up, you're on your way to passing out," Yoojung said. Getting the bartender's attention, she said "We're switching to just beer over here." He nodded and brought them a pitcher of beer and a new glass for Lucy.

"It's not my fault, Doc," Hyo-jung slurred. "You weren't here so I got a head start."

"This isn't healthy, Hyo-jung," Yooujung said. "Do you often go out drinking alone a lot?"

Hyo-jung drowned half a glass of beer in one go, then shook her head. "Not usually, but tonight all my friends were busy and I was feeling sorry for myself."

Yoojung nodded. "I can relate. But next time how about you call me? I'm almost always free."

"I don't have your number, Doc."

Jooyung picked up Hyo-jung's phone from the bar and entered her number. "There, now you do. And please, call me Yoojung when we're out of the hospital."

Hyo-jung nodded seriously, clapping Yoojung on the shoulder. "You got it, Yoojung."

"Now," Yoojung said, picking up her glass, "let's find something more cheerful to talk about." Over the next hour, Yoojung and Hyo-jung talked about any number of things - their favorite places to go in the city, their friends, their families, favorite TV shows, and on and on. . . 

"Oh, here's a fun one," Yoojung said excitedly, "what do you look for in your ideal partner?"

"Oh, that's easy," Hyo-jung said, ticking off the points on her fingers, "someone cool, someone cheerful, someone shorter than me-"

Yoojung cut in. "You're going to have a hard time finding a guy shorter than you."

"Pffft," Hyo-jung scoffed. "Don't want a guy."

Yoojung was surprised she hadn't figured this out before. "You're gay?" she asked.

Hyo-jung nodded dramatically, obviously drunk. 'Hella gay," she said. "Love me some pretty girls."

"Me too!" Yoojung exclaimed. She raised her glass in a toast "To the pretty girls!"

"To the pretty girls!" Hyo-jung echoed her, then drained her glass. She looked bleary-eyed at Yoojung. "You're a pretty girl, Yoojung, you know that?"

Yoojung coughed and sputtered, then blushed. "Okay, I think it's time we got you home."

Hyo-jung reached out and stroked Yoojung's hair. "It's true, Yoojung. You're really pretty."

Yoojung signaled to the bartender to close out her tab. "Well thank you," she said, "but we still need to get you home." She activated the Car Call app on Hyo-jung's phone and tapped the icon for "Ride home." Gathering up her phone and Hyo-jung's, she took Hyo-jung's hand and led her toward the door. "Come on," she said, "our car will be here in a couple of minutes."

When they climbed into the back seat of the car, Hyo-jung put her arm around Yoojung and leaned her head against Yoojung's. She stayed that way, quiet and apparently asleep, until the car pulled up in front of her building. Then she took Yoojung's hand and led her into the building.

It took Hyo-jung three tries to enter the code on her door lock. "That's lucky," she said, "if I had gotten it wrong one more time, we'd have been stuck out in the hallway for 20 minutes until the lock reset." She pulled Yoojung into the apartment behind her and shut the door. Turning to face Yoojung, she leaned down and kissed her. Yoojung started to return the kiss, then realized what she was doing and pulled away.

"No, Hyo-jung," she said, "we can't do that."

Lucy looked at her, tears welling up in her eyes. "But. . . I thought. . ."

Yoojung shook her head. "We can't, Lucy. Hospital Dating Policy."

Hyo-jung shook her head. "We just don't tell the hospital. It's what Doyeon's doing."

Yoojung looked surprised. "Doyeon? Who is Doyeon dating?"

Hyo-jung shook her head vigorously. "Nope, promised I wouldn't tell. I was just using Doyeon as an example to show it could be done. But if you don't want to. . ." She turned and headed for her bedroom. Stopping just outside the door, she turned back to Yoojung and said "You can stay here if you want. There's a blanket and a pillow inside the ottoman." She went into the bedroom and shut the door behind her.

Yoojung looked around Lucy's living room, unsure what to do with herself. She made her way to the kitchenette and got herself a glass of water. Checking the time, she decided she might as well stay here. She opened the ottoman and got out the pillow and blanket, then stretched out on the couch and covered herself up. She checked to be sure the alarm on her phone was turned on, then rolled over tried to sleep. But for the longest time sleep wouldn't come, as she wondered what she should do about Hyo-jung in the morning. 


	14. Discoveries and recoveries

Suyeon showed at Chez Lua just in time for her lunch date with Soo-kyung. She was wearing a breezy summer dress with a floral print pattern - the dress was a little too casual to wear to work, but a little too dressy to wear while sitting around the apartment, so she rarely got to wear it, even though it was one of her favorites. When the hostess showed her to her table, Soo-kyung was already there. She stood up and pulled out Suyeon's chair, then sat back down opposite her.

"You look nice," Soo-kyung said.

Suyeon blushed. "You do too - I'm not used to seeing you in something other than your chef uniform."

Soo-kyung laughed. "Hopefully we can change that - the restaurant is finally reaching a point that it doesn't need my attention 24/7, so I'll have time to do things like date, like a normal human being."

"That'll be nice," Suyeon said. "I remember when I got my first promotion at work and suddenly I was working half as much overtime as I had previously. Who knows? Maybe someday I'll make partner and only have to work 40 hours a week!"

"Did you ever think of starting your own agency?" Soo-kyung asked as she poured them each a glass of wine from a bottle she had had chilling beside the table.

Suyeon shook her head rapidly. "No way. That'd be too risky for me. I like the security of a paycheck every week."

Soo-kyung shruggged. "Well, if you ever change your mind, I know a lot of local restaurant owners who could use the services of a good accountant."

Suyeon took a sip of her wine. "I'll keep that in mind," she said. Looking around at the menu board, she asked "So, what's good today?"

"It should all be good," Soo-kyung said. "So-eun's cooking from her menu today."

"It's hot outside," Suyeon said, "so the bibim neangmyeon sounds good."

"That does sound good," Soo-kyung agreed. "With maybe some jumbo salt-baked shrimp?"

Suyeon nodded. "Sounds good."

Soo-kyung summoned their waiter and placed the order. While they waited for their food, they sat and talked and drank wine. The conversation ranged over all aspects of life. It had been far too long since they'd had a conversation like this, Suyeon thought. Back when they were in college they'd sometimes stay up all night talking, but then they graduated and "real life" got in the way. She'd forgotten how nice it could be to hang out and talk with Soo-kyung. Of course, then she'd remember that Soo-kyung wanted them to be more than just friends now, and she really wasn't sure how she felt about that, especially after she had spent the whole day with Hae-rim the day before. She fell silent as she tried to sort out her feelings.

"You've gotten quiet all of a sudden," Soo-kyung said. "Is everything okay?"

Suyeon nodded. "I've just got a lot on my mind right now." Thankfully their food arrived just then, so the conversation dropped off while they ate. Soo-kyung convinced Suyeon to try one of the shrimp with the shell still on. Suyeon tried it, but she didnt like it - she felt like she could never get all the chips of shell out of her mouth.

"Excuse me for just a second," Suyeon said. "I've got to go to the restroom. She stood up and had taken a couple of steps toward the back of the restaurant when suddenly her legs gave out and she was lying on the floor, apparently unconscious. Soo-kyung rushed over, checked to be sure she was still breathing, then called an ambulance. Apparently Suyeon wasn't as recovered from her concussion as she'd thought. 

* * *

Yooyung poked her head into the residents' room. "Doyeon, can I talk to you for a minute?"

Doyeon finished tying her scrub pants then looked up. "Sure. What about?"

"Just a sec," Yoojung said, "let's go get some coffee." She led the way to the coffee machine at the far end of the hall. Hardly anyone ever came this far down the hallway, so they'd have at least some degree of privacy.

As Yoojung fed a couple of bills into the machine and punched in their orders, Doyeon shifted nervously from foot to foot. "You're making me nervous here. I know you didn't just get a sudden craving for machine coffee, so there must be something wrong."

Yoojung smiled as she took the cups out of the machine. "Must there?"

Doyeon took a sip of her coffee. "Seriously, Yoojung, you're kind of freaking me out. If I did something wrong, just chew me out and get it over with."

Yoojung raised her eyebrows. "Did you do something wrong? Maybe something to do with the dating policy?"

Doyeon almost choked on her coffee. "What?"

"I was talking to one of the nurses," Yoojung said, her voice so calm that she might as well have been talking about the weather, "and she named you as an example of someone who's violating the hospital dating policy."

Doyeon rolled her eyes. "One of the nurses! You know how nurses love to gossip."

"But there's usually something true at the base of the gossip," Yoojung said. "Is there something true at the base of this?"

"And who am I supposed to be violating the dating policy with?" Doyeon asked. "It's not something I can do by myself, you know."

Yoojung took a sip of her coffee. "She wouldn't say. But surely there must have been something that made her think you were violating policy."

"That's what this is about?" Doyeon scoffed. "Half a rumor from a nurse and you're willing to believe I'm violating the dating policy. Really?"

"I didn't say I believed her," Yoojung said, "I'm just asking you if it's true. Dr. Lee has stressed dating policy to me the last couple of times I've talked to her, so I expect there's going to be a crackdown on it sometime soon." Yoojung paused for a moment, a look of recognition spreading across her face. "And I did run into you and Yuna alone at that sports bar the other night. . . Is there something there I should be concerned about?"

"No," Doyeon said, too quickly.

Yoojung's eyes narrowed. "You never could lie, Doyeon," she said. "You never could. So how long has this been going on?"

Doyeon took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. "Since the night before you took the department out for drinks last week." She moved closer to Yoojung and squatted down to be closer to her height. "You're not going to tell Dr. Lee, are you?" she asked, her voice quiet and rapid. "We're always completely professional at work, and very aware of appearances when we're out of work-"

Yoojung interrupted her. "I have to tell Dr. Lee. If she finds out I knew about this and didn't tell her-"

Doyeon drew herself up to her full height. Her face grew cold. "I hadn't wanted to do this but - think about what would have happened if I wouldn't have kept a secret for you."

"But that's-" Yoojung protested, "that's different. That's. . ." Recognizing that her bluff had been called, Yoojung deflated a little bit. "Fine. I won't tell. I don't know anything. But you'd better be careful - if you get caught now, you're on your own." Her face softened and her voice took on a friendlier tone. "I'm speaking as Yoojung now, not as Dr. Choi: Do you know what you're doing? Why not just break it off now before things get any more serious."

Doyeon shook her head. "Things already are serious. I've never felt this way about anyone else. I love her, Yoojung."

Yoojung shook her head slowly. "You're playing with fire, Doyeon. Be careful you don't get burned."

Doyeon nodded. "Thanks, Yoojung. I hadn't wanted to bring up the past like that, but I just. . . Yuna's really special, Yoojung. I've never met anyone like her."

Just then, Lucy came rushing up the hall. "There you are," she exclaimed. "I've been looking everywhere for you! The ambulance is on the way with out first patient of the night - it's Ji Suyeon! She apparently blacked out at a restaurant and hit her head."

Yoojung groaned. "That's just what she needs," she said. "She was about to come off brain rest and now she's going to have to go right back on it."

"If you've got her, I'd better go see what patients the day shift left me," Doyeon said. She and Yoojung exchanged a serious look before they split up and headed to different parts of the ER.

* * *

So-eun was sitting in the kitchen by herself, sipping a bottle of water. The last customer had gone, the chefs had cleaned their stations, and the dishwasher and potwasher had finished cleaning up. Except for Soo-kyung's date passing out, the night had gone smoothly. It gave her a sense of confidence that she'd be able to handle her own place. She finished her bottle of water and tossed it in the recycling bin. She didn't want to go home now. She wanted to go out and celebrate her big night. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and tried to think of who might be free to go out with her. On a whim, she decided to call Seo-jeong.

"Hello?" Seo-jeong was confused by someone calling her this late at night from a number she didn't recognize.

"Hey! It's So-eun!" 

"Hey!" Seo-jeong sounded excited to hear from her. "So what's up?"

"I finished the day of cooking from my own menu, and I wanted to go out and celebrate. Are you free?"

"I guess so - I don't usually go out this late at night because I've got to get to the bakery early, but I guess I can go in a little later than usual tomorrow."

"Great! How about you meet me at Chez Lua and we'll walk to one of the bars around here?" So-eun remembered then that Suyeon was Seo-jeong's roommate. "Oh, by the way, Suyeon blacked out earlier when she was here for dinner with Soo-kyung. Soo-kyung called an ambulance and took her to the emergency room."

Seo-jeong was quiet for a moment. "Before we go anywhere else, can we go to the ER and be sure she's okay? I can meet you at the ER and we can go straight from there, if she doesn't need me."

So-eun could rapidly feel her celebratory drinks slipping away, but this caring side of Seo-jeong was one of the things that had first attracted her. "Sure. I'll meet you there."

"If you want to go out without me, you can," Seo-jeong said. "I'm sure you don't want to spend your celebration time at the ER."

"Nah, it's no fun to drink by myself," So-eun said. "Besides, I haven't seen you since the night of the Mayor's Gala and I wanted to get a chance to talk to you."

Seo-jeong was quiet again. "If you're sure. I'm leaving right now, so you'll probably get there before I do."

They hung up and So-eun locked up the restaurant. As it turned out, she got to the ER at the same time as Seo-jeong. They walked in and checked in at the desk. A nurse came out and showed them to an exam room where Suyeon was lying in bed, electrodes stuck on all over her head. Soo-kyung was sitting in a chair beside her bed.

"How are you?" Seo-jeong asked.

"Much better than all this makes it look," Suyeon said, gesturing at all the wires connecting her to the monitors. "I'm ready to go home, but the doctor won't let me."

Just then Yoojung walked in. "Because this could potentially happen again, and we'll probably need to start you on some antiseizure medication before we discharge you."

"She had a seizure?" Seo-jeong asked.

Jooyung looked at the brainwave tracing that was scrolling across the screen. "We're not sure. That's why I want her to stay here overnight. Until we have some idea what happened to her, we won't know how to treat her."

"And get this," Suyeon said, "I'm going to be on brain rest for 2 months! Ask me how much I'm looking forward to telling Nayeon about that tomorrow."

"Well, you can deal with that tomorrow," Seo-jeong said. "For now you just concentrate on getting well."

Yoojung nodded. "Listen to Seo-jeong. She's talking sense." She looked over at Seo-jeong. "You look like you were getting ready to go out somewhere. Go ahead and go - you'll get to see Suyeon when she comes home tomorrow."

Seo-jeong looked from Suyeon to Yoojung. "Are you sure? Maybe I can help."

Yoojung shook her head. "Right now what she needs is to stay calm, and fewer people here will help out with that."

Soo-kyung looked at So-eun. "She's right. You and Seo-jeong go out for your celebratory drinks. I'll stay here with Suyeon."

So-eun nodded. "Okay. See you at the restaurant tomorrow."

Soo-kyung looked at Suyeon. "You might. Or I might end up calling you to run the place yourself tomorrow, depending on how Suyeon's doing?"

So-eun's jaw dropped. "You want me to run Chez Lua by myself for a day?"

Soo-kyung noddded. "Or I might, at any rate. I'll call you tomorrow morning in time for you to make up the days menu if I need you to. Now you and Seo-jeong get going - you've got some real celebrating to do and not much time to do it in."

So-eun nodded. "Talk to you tomorrow," she said, then turned to leave the room. When Seo-jeong didn't automatically come with her, she reached out and grabbed her hand. Seo-jeong started, the waved good-bye to Suyeon as she turned to with So-eun. She noticed So-eun didn't let go of her hand, and she made no effort to try to make her - it looked like this was going to be an interesting night.


	15. Drastic changes

Seo-jeong looked up from the dough she was kneading just in time to see Suyeon walk back into the kitchen from the front of the shop. She thought her roommate looked surprisingly happy for someone who'd just called her boss with the news that she wouldn't be able to work for the next two months.

"Is that a smile I see?" she asked teasingly. "Let me guess: Nayeon's retiring to Fiji and they're going to make you a partner when you get back off brain rest."

Suyeon laughed. "Not quite that good," she said. "But it is good news, I suppose."

"Well, don't keep me in suspense. What is it?"

"Nayeon gave me a chance to change my life, and - much to my surprise - I took it!" Suyeon was practically quivering with excitement.

"Well, congratulations, I guess," Seo-jeong said as she went back to kneading her dough. "So how are you changing your life? And how did Nayeon help?"

"Well," Suyeon said, "they're required to hold my position for me until I'm medically cleared to work again, but that creates a hardship for the agency: They need someone to do the work that I do, but they can't hire anyone because I'll be coming back when I'm medically clear. But they don't know how long it'll be until I'm medically cleared. Right now Yoojung's saying two months, but that's assuming I don't have another one of those spells. So Nayeon came up with a way to get rid of me."

Seo-jeong looked up, confused. "I thought you said they couldn't fire you. And why are you so happy about that?"

Suyeon's smile grew wider. "I didn't say they fired me. I said they got rid of me. Specifically, Nayeon offered me one year of salary as severance pay, plus payment for my accumulated vacation time and sick leave, in exchange for my letter of resignation."

Seo-jeong was momentarily stunned into silence. "Are you sure you can trust her? Did you get it in writing?"

Suyeon nodded. "I did. And I made sure the money had been deposited into my account before I sent my resignation letter."

Seo-jeong nodded as she gathered up the dough into a ball, put it in a bowl, covered it, and set it aside to rise. "But what are you going to do when the money runs out?"

"I've already got a plan," Suyeon said with a smile.

Seo-jeong rolled her eyes. "Why am I not surprised? It's only-" she looked at the clock on the wall - 9:15 and you've already quit your job and come up with a plan to replace it."

"Technically, I had the plan in mind first, which is why I was brave enough to quit my job," Suyeon said. "It started from something Soo-kyung said last night. I've still got to do the paperwork, and Hae-rim's coming by at 11 to take me to the print shop so I can get business cards made, but I am now the owner and sole employee of Ji Suyeon Accounting, specialty accountant for the food service industry."

Seo-jeong dropped the ball of dough she had just started to knead, ran around the table and gave Suyeon a hug. "That's great news! I'm so proud of you!" She stopped suddenly, her eyes narrowing. "I've been trying to get you to start your own business for years. What made you decide to start now?"

Suyeon shrugged. "Seeing over a year's salary flowing into my account all at once gave me a great sense of freedom. Plus, Soo-kyung wants me to do the accounting for Chez Lua, so I know I've already got my first customer."

"Second customer!" Seo-jeong interjected. "You're already doing the accounting for the bakery."

Suyeon scoffed. "That's just a favor to a friend. Soo-kyung is my first paying customer."

"But- I want to pay too!" Seo-jeong protested. "It was one thing having you do my accounting for free when it was something you were doing on the side from your regular job. Now this is your regular job, and I want to pay my fair share!"

Suyeon said in quiet thought for a moment. "I appreciate that. I really do. But I also know how tight your margins are here - at least six months of the past year, you couldn't have afforded to pay me."

"That was just growing pains," Seo-jeong broke in. "I'm doing better now."

"Today you are," Suyeon said, holding up her hand stop the protests that she was sure were about to come. "But I'll make a deal with you: If you let me continue doing your account for free now, I'll start billing you after you've grown your bakery enough to hire two assistants."

Seo-jeong looked at Suyeon with a twinkle in her eyes. "Have you been taking negotiating lessions from Nayeon? Because that sounds like the sort of thing she'd come up with! I'll take it, but I'm holding you to it. As soon as I hire my second assistant, I expect to start getting an invoice from you every month." She wiped her hand on her apron to get most of the flour off, then held it out for Suyeon to shake. Once Suyeon had shaken her hand, she jumped up and down. "Woohoo! You just made your first deal as a freelance accountant!" She skipped back around the work table and started kneading the dough.

Suyeon sat watching Seo-jeong quietly for a few minute. Finally, she spoke up. "So," she said, drawing out the word for emphasis, "what about you?"

Seo-jeong looked up, confusion written on her face. "What about me?"

"Well," Suyeon said, "you and So-eun went out for drinks last night, and unless my brain was even foggier than I thought, you two were holding hands when you left my exam room."

Seo-jeong shrugged. "I don't know what's going on there. We talked for a while the night of the Mayor's Gala, and when she was trying to think of someone to go drinking with to celebrate her first time cooking her own menu, for some reason she thought of me. Most of the time we talked shop - which reminds me: When you've got brain enough, I want you to have a look at my personal finances to see how much I can afford to invest in So-eun's restaurant she's going to be opening - so I don't know if she just wants to be friends or if she wants to be something more."

Suyeon got a mischievous gleam in her eye. "Do you want to be something more?"

Seo-jeong shrugged as she tossed the dough into a bowl. "I don't know," she said. "I mean, she's cute - supercute - but I don't really know her that well. Plus, I've had my eye on someone else for a while, but I don't know if that's going to happen, and right now it looks like it's not. . ."

"Who?" Sjuyeon demanded, sitting bolt upright. "Who is it? You can't just drop something like that and then leave me hanging!" She fell silent for a moment, apparently deep in thought. "It's Soo-kyung, isn't it. Why didn't you say so? I never would have gone out with her if I'd known you were interested."

Seo-jeong shook her head, her face a carefully composed mask. "No, it's not Soo-kyung."

"Well then who?" Suyeon asked. "Is it somebody I know?"

Seo-jeong shook her head as she started wiping down the work table. "Just forget it, Suyeon. I don't even want to think about it, so I certainly don't want to talk about it."

"Oh." Suyeon fell silent. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you."

Seo-jeong finished wiping down the work table and threw the towel in the laundry bin. "You didn't upset me, Suyeon. I don't even know why I brought it up. I just. . . just let it go. Please."

Suyeon nodded and started looking at her phone, wishing there was something she could do to help her friend.

* * *

Hae-rim was walking up the street toward Seo-jeong's bakery when a familiar grey sedan pulled up next to her. She looked at the driver, who nodded, then quickly ran around and got in the passenger side. The driver turned into the next alley and parked the car behind a dumpster. He pulled out his phone and fiddled with it for a moment. Within seconds, Hae-rim's phone pinged. She looked down and saw a picture on the screen - one of the pictures she had taken at the fights the other night, showing a pretty woman with long brown hair who looked to be in her late 20s, talking to Boss Park. She was laughing, exposing her bunny teeth.

"Those pictures you sent us were crucial - we're on the verge of breaking this case wide open," the driver said. "This woman is the only person we can't identify, but if she can get this close to Park, it's crucial that we find out who she is and get her on the stand." 

Hae-rim shrugged. "I don't know who she is, or I would have told you. I don't know how you expect me to find out - I can never get anywhere near that close to Park."

"I don't care how you do it," the driver said, "just do it. As soon as we have this woman's identity, we make the arrest, close the case down, and you can go back to living your regular life."

Hae-rim nodded. "I'll see what I can do. I have never been so ready for a case to be over."

"Once this case is over," the driver said, "you've got a golden ticket. You can pick any assignment you want."

Hae-rim nodded, knowing exactly what assignment she wanted, and knowing that the driver wouldn't like it. Looking down at the picture again, she said "Well, I'd better go - I'm supposed to be meeting someone at 11, and if I hurry I can just barely make it on time." She hopped out of the car before the driver had a chance to say anything else. She rushed down the alley and turned left at the sidewalk. After a couple of blocks, she reached Seo-jeong's bakery. She went inside, the gaily tinkling bell announcing her entry.

Seo-jeong came out of the back of the bakery, wiping her hands on a towel. "She's waiting for you," she said. "Come on back."

Hae-rim thought that this was not exactly the warmest greeting, but at least Seo-jeong was speaking to her again. She followed Seo-jeong into the back of the bakery. Suyeon smiled when she saw who it was. 

"Hey there" Suyeon said. "You ready to go to the printer?" 

"Just a second," Hae-rim said. She put her phone and her purse on the table next to Suyeon on the table. Looking at Seo-jeong, she asked "Do you have a bathroom I can use?"

Seo-jeong pointed to a door next to the supply area.

Looking at Suyeon, Hae-rim said "I'll be right back."

* * *

When Hae-rim came out of the bathroom a few minutes later, she saw Suyeon had picked up her phone and was looking upset about something.

"Why do you have a picture of Nayeon on your phone?" Suyeon asked.

Hae-rim was stunned into silence for a second.

Suyeon held up the phone, pointing at the picture of the woman sitting by Boss Park. "This is Nayeon. She was my boss until 9:15 this morning. Why do you have her picture on your phone?"

Suyeon quickly crossed the room, grabbed Suyeon by the hand, and said "I'll tell you, but we can't talk about it here. Come on."

"Oh hell no!" 

Hae-rim looked to see Seo-jeong holding a rolling pin in her hands, blocking the doorway into the front of the bakery.

"There's been enough of the secrets and lying," Seo-jeong said, clenching the rolling pin so tightly her knuckles turned white. "You're not taking her anywhere until you tell us who and what you really are."

Hae-rim sighed in exasperation. "Fine. But can you at least lock the front door, so no one walks in on us?"

Seo-jeong looked at Suyeon, who nodded. She rushed into the front room, then was back in a matter of seconds.

Hae-rim took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and breathed out. When she opened her eyes again, she looked at Suyeon. "I had planned to tell you all this, but not today and not like this." She turned toward the table, picked up her purse, and dumped it out on the table. Then she reached back into the purse, fiddled around with the bottom of the purse, and pulled out a small leather wallet. Opening it, she slapped it down on the table in front of Suyeon. Suyeon looked down and saw a gold badge and an ID card in the wallet.

"I'm an undercover cop," Hae-rim said. "I've been investigating the underground fighting rings run by the local jopok." Seeing the uncomprehending look on Suyeon's face, she elaborated. "Gangsters. Mafia. Organized crime." Pointing at the photo on her phone, she went on. "This woman, this Nayeon, is apparently close to Boss Park, one of the big 3 bosses who run the city. My supervisor just told me that as soon as I could identify this woman, the case was over and he'd be sending in officers and SWAT teams to make the arrests. If you can come down to the station with me, you can tell him everything you know about Nayeon and I can be out of this case. No more undercover work for me."

Seo-jeong put her rolling pin down on the table with a thud. "No way. If he wants to talk to her, he can come here. From what you've said, it's not safe to Suyeon to be seen with you."

"Fine," Hae-rim spat. She took her phone from Suyeon, put it down on the table, and dialed a number from memory. She put it on speaker so they all could hear.

"Make it worth my while," said a male voice at the other end of the call.

"I've got the identity of your mystery woman," Hae-rim said, her voice flat.

"Well, that was fast," the mystery man said. "Come on in and we can put this case to bed."

"No can do," Hae-rim responded. "I've got a witness that I can't bring with me. You know where Seo-jeong Bakery is?"

The man laughed. "Asking a cop if he knows where a bakery is? I love your sense of humor."

Hae-rim grumbled. "Well, meet me there, and you'll have the identity of your mystery woman, plus a lot more about her besides."

Before Hae-rim could hang up, Seo-jeong spoke up. "Order 2 croissants and a Napoleon so we'll know it's you."

Hae-rim rolled her eyes. "You got that?" she asked.

"Two croissants and a Napoleon," the man echoed back. "See you in fifteen."

After the man hung up, Hae-rim started putting all her things back in her purse.

"So. . . all this time. . ." Suyeon said, "you've been lying to me about who you really are."

Hae-rim hung her head for a second, then looked up and looked Suyeon in the eye. "Yes, but I wasn't lying when I said I care about you. And I told you as much as I could about my real life. And part of that's about to be realer. I've been promised a golden ticket when I wrap up this case."

"What's that?" Seo-jeong asked. "You get to go to Wonka-land?"

Hae-rim laughed. "No. It means I get to choose my assignment. I plan to choose unarmed combat instructor at the academy, so I won't be on the street anymore and you won't have to worry about me."

Suyeon opened her mouth to say something, but whatever she had been about to say was drowned out by someone shaking the locked door of the bakery and calling out "Aw geez, all I wanted was two croissants and a Napoleon. Can't you open up?"


	16. The day before the big night

By the time Suyeon was 10 minutes into giving her information, Kim Hyung-soo, Hae-rim's boss, had opened his briefcase, taken out a computer and 3 cell phones, and started planning that night's operations, which would pretty much gut the local organized crime organizations. Suyeon didn't know how he could manage listening to her, talking on one phone, texting on the other two, and typing on the computer all at once, but somehow he did. "Okay," he said, when everything was done, "you'll get to see all about it on the ten o'clock news tonight." He looked at Hae-rim, who was standing by Suyeon and holding her hand, and smiled. "Hae-rim, I'm guessing you won't find it a hardship to stay with Miss Ji until this is all over?"

"Your command is my wish," said Hae-rim with a laugh.

Hyung-soo bowed to Seo-jeon and Suyeon. "Nice to meet you ladies. Take care." Turning to Hae-rim, he asked. "Have you given any thought to your golden ticket?"

Hae-rim noddled. "I want to teach unarmed combat at the academy."

Hyung-soo looked stunned. Then his eyes landed on Hae-rim's hand, still wrapped around Suyeon's, and he understood. He somehow made a face that was both a scowl and a smile simultaneously. "Okay then. You get the rest of the week off, and by next Monday I should have everything arranged with the academy." Turning to Suyeon he said, "You just cost me my best detective. If you don't keep her happy, then you'd better not so much as jaywalk." He smiled to let her know that he was joking. Well, 90% joking. Turning back to Hae-rim, he said "I know no one stays undercover forever, but I'm still going to miss you."

"You could always come back to the academy for a refresher course in unarmed combat," she responded with a smile.

Hyung-soo shook his head. "No way. That's one of the perks of being a senior detective - I don't have to get beaten up like that on a yearly basis. Anyway, it doesn't look likely right now -" his eyes flicked over to Suyeon - "but if you ever decide to go back into investigations, you'll always have a spot on my team."

Hae-rim was struggling not to start crying. Rapidly blinking away tears, she said "Thank you, sir. That means a lot."

Hyung-soo nodded to her again, then turned and left. Seo-jeong followed him so that she could lock the door behind him and turn the sign to closed. When she came back in, so tossed the dough she had been working on into a bowl and stuck it in the refrigerator. "Bakery's closed for the day," she said, untying her apron and tossing it in the hamper. Crossing to stand in front of Hae-rim, she bowed slightly and said "I'm sorry to have been suspicious of you."

Hae-rim shook her head. "No, you were right to trust your gut. Something wasn't right and you could tell. I'm glad Suyeon has friends like you to look out for her. I know we got off on the wrong foot, but I hope that you and I can be friends as well."

Seo-jeong looked at her, squinted slightly, then smiled. "I think I'd like that too."

"So what do we do now?" Suyeon asked. "I can't imagine going home after all that's just happened, but it doesn't sound like it's going to be safe to be out and about today."

Hae-rim smiled. "There's a bar and grill about 2 blocks from here that a lot of the local cops frequent. I can't imagine anywhere safer than that."

"Ummm... I can't drink, remember?" Suyeon pointed to her head.

"They also make great coffee," Hae-rim said, "and while the pastries aren't as good as Seo-jeong's, they're at least adequate."

Seo-jeong snorted. "We'll see about that," she said with a laugh. "Anyway, it seems like that would be a good place to watch the news about your big bust."

Dr. Lee Ji Eun put up her umbrella and rushed to Young-jun's garage to pick up her car. She dashed in the door, followed closely by Alex, the bike messenger from her last visit. As Young-jun was handling the paperwork for Ji Eun's repairs, he looked over at Alex. "Your bike break down again?" he asked.

Alex shook his head. "Nah. I just needed a place to get out of the rain so I could eat my lunch." He reached into his backpack and pulled out a bento.

Young-jun shook his head. "Our deal was you could use my tools and a little bit of garage space. I never said nothing about turning my waiting room into a restaurant."

"That's really a shame, because I picked up an extra one for you," Alex said, pulling a second bento out of his bag.

Ji Eun laughed. "Looks like he wins this one!"

Young-jun sighed. "I guess he does, Doc. Here's your key. I'll see you in 3 months for an oil change, sooner if something breaks before then."

After Ji Eun had left, Young-jun sat down next to Alex and opened the bento Alex had set out for him.

"Hey," Alex said between bites of gimbap, "what do you say after you close the shop tonight, you and I meet up at the Bear Trap. I'll buy you a drink."

Young-jun choked on a bite of kimchi and started coughing. Alex started slapping him on the back to help him clear it out. When he finally could breathe again, he asked "The Bear Trap?"

Alex nodded. "I saw you there last week, but I was with some friends and couldn't get over to talk to you."

Young-jun shook his head. "I wasn't. . . That wasn't me."

"Oh no, it was you," Alex retorted. "I get it - you're in the closet. That's why I didn't say anything while you had a customer in here. I mean, I let my freak flag fly, but that's not right for everyone. You're a businessman in a very male-dominated field. You've got an image to uphold. I respect that. That's why I suggested we meet up there. No one outside the Bear Trap will see us together outside of work, and anyone inside. . . well, what are they doing there?" He laughed.

Young-jun laughed nervously. "You know I always come into the Bear Trap by the unmarked side entrance, right? A lot of the guys give me hell about that - they say if I'm not brave enough to walk in through the front entrance, then I'm not worth them spending time on."

Alex shook his head vigorously, then tucked the bite of gimbap he was chewing into his cheek so he could talk. "No, no, no - I'm not like that. You gotta do you, and if that means coming in through the secret entrance, then that's what you gotta go." He gave the gimbap a couple more chews, then swallowed it.

Young-yun thought for a moment, then nodded his head decisively. "That sounds good. Would 6-ish be too early?"

Alex shook his head. "Nah, my last delivery's downtown, so that sounds just about right. Speaking of which, the rain's slacking off, so I'd better be on my way." He picked up his empty bento and tossed it in the trash, the scooted out the door and hopped on his bike.

Young-jun stared after him, blinking slowly. He had a date? For the first time since he moved to Seoul, an actual date? He'd had plenty of hookups with guys he'd met at the Bear Trap, but those had been just that - hookups. Alex had actually asked him out. He shook his head as he ate the last bite of his bento and disposed of the box. Until he'd heard Alex talk this afternoon, he never would have guessed that the whole "flighty bike messenger" thing was just an act, and he was apparently a thoughtful and intelligent guy.

"Best not get ahead of things," he said to himself as he started a brake job on an Audi. "Tonight's just a drink."

Yuna and Doyeon were standing by the coffee machine at the end of the hall outside the ER.

Yuna took a sip of her coffee and winced as she burned her tongue. "OK," she said, "I don't think you're breaking up with me, but it's possible I'm wrong, and. . . well. . . you're making me really nervous. Why did you want to talk about that's so secret?"

Doyeon laughed quietly. "Relax. It's nothing bad. It's just something I didn't want to wait to talk about, and that we needed a little bit of privacy for. That's all."

"O-kay. . ." Yuna sounded unconvinced.

Doyeon decided to just dive straight in, get this over with. "Dr. Choi knows about us, and she thinks Dr. Lee might know, so we've got to be extra careful to not look like we're violating hospital dating policy."

Yuna let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. "Oh, so that's all it is." Seeing Doyeon's expression, she rushed on. "I mean, I know not getting busted for violating the dating policy is important, I just - you had me worried that there was something wrong between us. That you were upset with me or something."

Doyeon shook her head. "Oh, no. Nothing like that. Just a reminder that we've got to try extra hard to stay out of the hospital gossip."

Yuna bit her lip and looked at the floor for a second. "So I guess this wouldn't be a good time for us to take a trip to Paris?"

Doyeon did a double-take. "No, I'm afraid that's exactly the sort of thing we shouldn't do right now. But that's an oddly specific thing to ask. What made you bring that up?"

Yuna held up her phone. Her airline app was showing a ridiculously large number of miles. "My grandmother gave me all her airline miles this afternoon, and when I was looking at it, I realized it was enough that I could buy us a trip to Paris."

Doyeon's jaw dropped. "How did your grandmother even end up with so many miles?"

Yuna shrugged as she put her phone away. "She's got grandchildren on 4 continents, in 10 different countries, so she's constantly flying somewhere for this one's birthday or that one's dance recital, and she never uses her frequent flier miles, so today she decided to give them to me."

"I just. . . wow! Even though I don't think that would be a good idea right now, it's just - I mean - I'm amazed that you'd want to do something like that with me." She looked up and down the hall and, seeing they were alone, leaned forward and kissed Yuna quickly.

Yuna smiled at the unexpected affection. "Well, of course!" she said with a laugh. "I mean, who else would I want to go to Paris with but my girlfriend?"

Doyeon looked stunned. "Your girlfriend?"

Yuna laughed. "Of course, silly!" Her face fell. "Unless you don't think of us that way. . ."

"Oh, no no no!" Doyeon said, desperate to bring the smile back to Yuna's face. "It only. . . you've never said that before."

"I wasn't ready to until just now," Juna said. "I wish I could tell everyone I see, but I know we've got to keep it secret, so I wanted to at least be sure you know I feel this way."

"That's really great," Doyeon said. "I-"

But whatever she was about to say was cut short by Nurse Choi Jisu calling from the end of the hall. "There you are! Dr. Kim, those lab results you wanted to see on the patient in room 3 just came became. They're not good."

"On my way," Doyeon said, downing her coffee in one gulp and tossing the paper cup in the can. Looking at Yuna as she started down the hall, she asked "Meet you at the Dragon's Lair after work?" Yuna nodded, then drank the rest of her coffee and followed Doyeon back to work. 


	17. Everything goes down

Hyo-jung stood outside the ER, watching the clock. She didn't want to be late for work, but she didn't want to get there any earlier than she had to. As it was, she'd hidden in her room Monday morning until she heard Yoojung leave, then spent her whole day off in her apartment hoping her phone wouldn't ring, then stayed home on Tuesday until time for work, to make sure she didn't accidentally run into Yoojung. But now it was time for her shift, and she was going to have to spend the whole evening at Central Station with Yoojung. To say she was nervous was an understatement.

"Why did I have to do that?" she asked herself. She knew the answer, of course. Yoojung was cute, and she was there, and apparently interested. And Hyo-jung was drunk, and vulnerable, and kicking herself for having missed her chance with Doyeon. It was a situation that seemed to have been custom-designed to give Hyo-jung an opportunity to embarrass herself.

"Ah! There you are!" 

Hyo-jung started, and spun around to face the owner of the voice. "Dr. Choi! You startled me!" 

Yoojung laughed. "I'm not Dr. Choi until we clock in, so not for another-" she checked her watch- "2 minutes. Why don't you go ahead and get your scrubs on, then meet me at the coffee machine - first cup's on me tonight, and we're starting the shift with practically no patents, so it's a good time for us to have a little chat."

Hyo-jung nodded. "See you in just a few," she said. As Yoojung opened the ER door and headed to central station, Hyojung walked down the hall to the nurses' locker room. As she got changed into her scrubs, she listened with half an ear to the chatter of the other nurses - as charge nurse, she needed to know the mood of the department, to be able to head off any problems before they started. Fortunately, everone seemed to be in a good mood tonight. 

She was in the middle of trying her shoes when someone reached out and tapped her on the wrist. She looked up and saw Yuna standing in front of her, smiling like she'd never had a problem in the world. "No," Hyo-jung thought, "that's not fair. It's not good to dislike Yuna because she's with Doyeon - it's just one of those things - a matter of timing." She returned Yuna's smile. "Hey! What up?"

Yuna's smile seemed to get even brighter, if such as thing was possible. "I'm planning to have some people over at my place Friday night for drinks and snacks and to make snarky comments about the Fashion Week telecast, and I was hoping that you could be there."

HYo-jung was shocked to discover that she actually didn't dislike Yuna - she was such kind, friendly person that it really was impossible to dislike her. It'd be like disliking kittens - she just couldn't do it. Returning Yuna's smile with the first genuine smile she'd had all day, she said "I'd like that. Thanks. Should I bring anything?"

Yuna shook her head. "Just yourself! Well, I've got to get to work - see you later!" And with that, she turned and practically skipped out of the locker room.

Hyo-jung finished tying her shoes, then walked quietly down to the coffee machine. Yoojung was already there.

"There you are!" Yoojung said with a smile. "I was starting to think I'd have to send one of the other nurses to fetch you out of the locker room."

Hyo-jung shook her head. "No, it's just one of the nurses needed to talk to me about something." Stopping by the coffee machine, she faced Yoojung and bowed. "Dr. Choi, I'm so sorry about Sunday night. Please forgive me."

Yoojung laughed. When Hyo-jung looked up at her, she was smiling and her eyes were twinkling. "There's nothing to forgive," Yoojung said, handing Hyo-jung some coins and gesturing toward the cofee machine. "I don't know how you take your coffee," she said, "or I'd have had it waiting for you. Anyway, if a beautiful woman tells me I'm pretty and then tries to kiss me, even if it us under the influence of one or two drinks too many, I consider that a win. Certainly not something that needs to be apologized for."

Hyo-jung blushed. "You think I'm beautiful?"

Yoojung nodded. "Yes! Absolutely! Anyway, I was hoping that after work we could have the conversation that neither of us was in any condition to have last night."

Hyo-jung took a sip of her coffee to buy herself a moment to think. It was bitter, too strong, and too hot, the same as this machine's coffee always was. "What about the hospital dating policy?"

Yoojung nodded. "That's one of the things I wanted to talk about. You know the Bear Trap?"

Hyo-jung was confused, and her face showed it. "The gay bar down the street?"

Yoojung nodded. "Can you think of a better place to hide out from the sort of people we know?"

Hyo-jung shook her head, then downed the rest of her coffee. After tossing her cup away, she said "That's really a clever idea."

"I wish I could take credit for it," Yoojung said. "When I was in college there was a gay guy I was friends with, and whenever he wanted to talk to someone without their conversation being all over the gay grapevine, he'd come to the lesbian bar where I worked as a hostess for a while. I'm just turning the table." She finished her coffee and tossed the cup. "We'd better get down to Central Station - things are quiet now, but that's no guarantee they'll stay that way." 

* * *

"Here you go," Seo-jeong said, putting coffees down in front of Suyeon and Hae-rim because dashing back to the counter for her own.

Suyeon took a sip of her coffee, then started adding frantically adding sugar and creamer to it. "I don't know how you do this," she said.

"Oh, the coffee's not that bad," Hae-rim said. "You should taste the coffee back at the station."

Suyeon laughed. "No, not that. The waiting. I'm sure you know most of the cops who are out there tonight, and you just have to wait and hope they accomplish their missions and make it back safely."

Hae-rim nodded. "I've done all I can do - making sure they had good intel to go on - and they've all got body armor, but, yeah, all we can do now is hope and pray."

They all fell silent for a moment, until the silence was shattered by a siren.

Seo-jeong sat bolt upright with a start. "Was that. . . ?" she asked, unable to finish the question.

Hae-rim shook her head. "That was an ambulance." She looked quickly from Seo-jeong to Suyeon and back again. "We're just a few blocks from the hospital. There are plenty of reasons an ambulance would be here that have nothing to do with tonight's sweep."

Everyone fell quiet again. Trying to lift everyone's spirits, Hae-rim asked Seo-jeong "So, what did you thing of the pastries?"

Seo-jeong shrugged. "They were adequate. Barely adequate." A smile spread across her face. "I've got an appointment with the manager tomorrow, to see if I can convince them to change suppliers."

"Which would be good," a voice behind her said. They all turned quickly and saw the Kim Hyung-Soo had come into the diner. "Because you still owe me two croissants and a Napoleon." He grabbed an empty chair from the neighboring table and sat down with them. "When is a napoleon, anyway?" he asked Seo-jeong.

"It's layers of puff pastry with almond cream in between, topped with royal icing," she said, miming the process of putting one together. "Stop by the shop tomorrow and I'll have one for you."

Hyung-soo laughed. "I'll be there," he said.

"But you didn't come here to talk about pastry," Hae-rim said.

"No, I didn't," Hyung-Soo said, drumming his fingers on the tabletop. "I came to give you an update, since it won't be on the news for an hour, and some of it not even then."

He paused for a moment, and they all looked at him inquisitively.

"We got Boss Park," he said with a sigh of relief, "We got all of his underbosses. We got the files that tie him to the mayor. Some of the guys are out right now sweeping up the last of the street-level criminals."

Hae-rim nodded, taking this all in. "What aren't you telling us?" she asked.

Hyung-soo looked significantly at Suyeon. "Im Nayeon got away," he said.

"But," Suyeon said, "she's just an accountant, right?"

Hyung-Soo snorted. "How do you think they finally caught Al Capone? By going through his financial records. finding Nayeon or not could be the difference between putting these poeple away or having to let them back out for lack of evidence."

"And there's still something you're not telling us," Hae-rim said, arching an eyebrow.

Hyung-Soo leaned back and reached into an inside pocket of his jacket. "We found this when we searched Nayeon's office." He put a photograph, protected by a clear evidence envelope, down on the table. It showed Suyeon and Hae-rim walking in the park on Sunday afternoon. Suyeon looked suddenly from Kyung-Soo to Hae-rim and back, her eyes wide, her mouth open.

"It might be nothing," Kyung-soo said as he picked the photo back up and put it back in his pocket, "a boss spying on an employee who's out on medical leave. Then again, it might be something. I'm going to keep an unmarked car parked in front of your building at all times, and I'm going to take you to your apartment now so that a countermeasures team can sweep the place, make sure there aren't any bugs or hidden cameras or anything like that."

"Do you think. . ." Suyeon began, before stopping suddenly, swallowing, and trying again. "Do you think that's likely?"

Kyung-soo shrugged. "With these people, you never know. At any rate, it's better to have too much caution than not enough." He gestured at the half-empty cups of coffee sitting on the table in front of them. "We should probably go now. I'd be willing to bet you've got better coffee at home anyway."

Suyeon nodded, unable to find words. As they got up to leave, Hae-rim took Suyeon's hand and said "I'm going to stay with you until this whole thing is over."

"And hopefully even after," Suyeon said with a weak grin.

"For as long as you'll have me," Hae-rim said earnestly.

"Hae-rim, do we need to have a unit swing by your apartment to get anything?" Kyung-soo asked.

Hae-rim shook her head. "Not that I can think of. But I've got a bug-out bag at my dojo. If someone could bring me that, I'd appreciate it."

"Sure thing," he said. He pulled out a radio, spoke cryptically into it for a few moments, waited to hear a response, than put it back. "Done," he said, "The countermeasures team with bring it when they come."

* * *

"... I guess you're asleep or something. I'll talk to you later. Give me a call sometime," So-eun said, then hung up her phone.

Soo-kyung had come into the kitchen just in time to hear the last of So-eun's voice mail. "Trying to get in touch with Seo-jeong?"

So-eun looked as if she was considering trying to deny it, then ended up nodding silently.

Soo-kyung took a bottle of water out of the refrigerator, uncapped it, and drank half of it at one go. "So, are you two an item now?"

So-eun took her head. "I don't think so. I mean, I'd like to get closer to her, but I feel like there's a wall there."

Soo-kyung nodded. "Yeah, I can believe that." When So-eun looked at her inquisitively, she went on. "You've got to remember, I've know Seo-jeong since college, and she's been basically the same all that time. She and Suyeon have been roommates since freshman year. She's always worn her hair with bangs. She always takes her coffee with milk - not cream - and one sugar. Once she decides she likes things a certain way, she sees no reason to change. Sophomore year, she went out with a girl for a while - a senior. I don't know exactly what happened, but when they broke up, Seo-jeong cried for weeks. And she hasn't dated anyone since. She apparently decided that being single is the way she likes things."

So-eun chewed on her lower lip, thinking for a moment, trying to process all of this. "So you're saying that I don't have a chance?"

Soo-kyung shook her head. "I didn't say that. I think you and Seo-jeong would be great together. I'm just telling you that you're going to have to be patient. Like you said, there's a wall there. But walls can have doors - or at least windows."

So-eun nodded. "I guess I can see that. Anyway, enough about me - how'd things end up with you and Suyeon? Last I heard, you were riding to the hospital in the ambulance with her."

Soo-kyung shrugged. She drank the last of her water, put the cap back on it, and tried to toss it into the recycling bin - it hit the rim and bounced out, clattering across the floor. 

"That's not sounding very promising," So-eun said, as she chased down the runaway water bottle and put it in the recycling bin. "Did something happen at the hospital?"

Soo-kyung shrugged again. "I guess you could say that. We spent a lot of time waiting there while they examined her. Had a lot of time to talk. Long story short, she's just started seeing someone else. She tried playing it off as just a matter of bad timing, but I don't think it would have worked out between us."

"Still," So-eun said, reaching across the table and clapping Soo-kyung on the shoulder, "at least you tried."

Soo-kyung nodded. "Yeah, there's that." She stared down at the table for a moment. "At least there's that." After a long silence, she looked up at So-eun. "How about we go get a drink? I mean, anything's got to be better than hanging out in an empty kitchen moaning about our love lives."

So-eun laughed. "Sounds good to me." Just then her phone rang. She looked at the screen, then at Soo-kyung. "It's her," she said. Answering the phone, she stepped into the storeroom to take the call.


	18. Intensity

Hyung-soo showed Suyeon and Seo--jeong the array of listening devices the countermeasures team had found. "There was one in the kitchen, one in the living room, and one in each bedroom."

"Both bedrooms?" Seo-jeong asked.

"Of course," Suyeon said. "They didn't know which one was mine, so they bugged both."

"You mean - they heard me -" Seo-jeong blushed.

"They probably ran the sound files through a computer, keyed to respond to the sounds of voices. Other sounds wouldn't be of interest to them," Hyung-Soo said, pretending he didn't know what Seo-jeong had been referring to.

"At least it was just audio bugs," Hae-rim said. "If it had been cameras, then you'd really have something to worry about."

"And they're sure they got all of them?" Suhyeon asked.

Hyung-soo nodded. "They've got very sensitive bug detectors and they swept the whole apartment. Now if you're sure you'll be fine, I'll go see if I can get a couple of hours of sleep before my shift starts tomorrow."

"Go ahead and go," Hae-rim said, guiding him toward the door. "I've got everything under control here, and you're going to need to be at your best to run the hunt for Im Nayeon."

"Just call if you need me," he said, and let himself out. Hae-rim went behind him and locked the door, then headed to the kitchen to put on some coffee.

"So," Suyeon said to Seo-jeong, "I noticed you called So-eun on the way here."

Seo-jeong nodded. "It was supposed to call her if I wanted to get together tonight, so I figured I'd better call her and let her know I wouldn't be coming."

"So is something going on there?"

Seo-jeong shrugged. "I think so. I don't know. I like hanging out with her, and I could see something happening between us, but I dont know how she feels. Anyway, she's going to pass by the bakery tomorrow morning before work."

"That's a good sign," Suyeon said.

"I think so," Seo-jeong said with a smile. 

Just then Hae-rim came out of the kitchen. "Coffee will be ready in just a minute," she said.

"I've got some pastries in the freezer," Seo-jeong said. "I'll go warm some up so we can have something to eat."

After Seo-jeong had left the room, Hae-rim crossed over to Suyeon and took her hands. "How are you doing?" she asked. "I know this is all a lot of take in."

Suyeon nodded. "A hell of a lot. But I think I'm managing okay." She sat down on the couch and pulled Hae-rim down next to her. "I can't imagine what it must be like for you when you go undercover - having to leave your whole life behind."

Hae-rim put her arm around Suyeon's shoulders. "I never had much of a life when I was working undercover, so I didn't have much to leave behind. But now that I'm going to be working at the academy, I'm hoping to change that."

Suyeon leaned her head on Hae-rim's shoulder. "I'd say you're off to a good start. You've found a girlfriend."

Hae-rim laughed. "That was just luck - you were falling, and I just happened to be there to catch you."

"Well, regardless of how it happened, I'm glad it happened."

* * *

Hyo-jung finished giving the report to the next shift's charge nurse and went to the locker room to change out of her scrubs. Yuna was already there, fastening her jeans and putting on her shoes.

"Hi Hyo-jung!" Yung said, her good spirits apparently undimmed from the beginning of the shift. "A bunch of us are going to Scrub Inn tonight. You want to come along?"

Hyo-jung finished pulling her scrub top off and tossed it in the laundry bin. "I'd love to," she said, as she reached into her locker, "but I've got someplace else to be tonight."

"Ooh! Sounds mysterious!" Yuna said as she grabbed her purse and closed her locker.

Hyo-jung laughed. "Nothing so exciting as all that. I'm just meeting someone for a chat."

"Well, have fun," Yuna said as she left, "and if you come to Scrub Inn after, we'll probably still be there."

"I might, but don't count on it," Hyo-jung said. "Drink an extra shot for me."

"Will do!" Yuna said as she left the room.

Hyo-jung laughed as she finished tying her shoes. Yuna's high spirits were infectious, and gave her hope that something good would come out of her conversation with Yoojung tonight. She left the hospital and, rather than turn left to go to Scrub Inn, she turned right. A couple of blocks down, she saw the entrance to the Bear Trap. 

The doorman made a show of looking her up and down. "I think you've come to the wrong place, sweetie," he said, a teasing note evident in his voice.

Hyo-jung shook her head. "I'm meeting someone here. If she's not here already, she'll be here soon."

The doorman pointed to his head. "I see what you're doing here. Clever girls, don't want people gossiping about them!" 

Hyo-jung laughed. "You got it."

"Right this way, m'lady," he said, gesturing grandly toward the door.

Hyo-jung curtsied. "Thank you, kind sir." She opened the door, let herself into the club, and was instantly assaulted by the music and lights from the dancefloor. She walked toward the bar, looking around for Yoojung.

"Hyo-jung!"

Hyo-jung spun around, looking for the guy who'd called her name. "Alex! How's it going? Still doing the bike messenger thing?"

Alex nodded. "I'm doing fine. Yeah, I'm still a bike messenger, but I've been taking business classes at night - I want to open my own bike shop someday!"

"That's awesome! So, you here meeting someone or. . . ?"

"Yeah, my new guy should be here in just a few minutes . He always comes in through the unmarked entrance because of his job - he's a mechanic. So. . . I'm guessing you're here looking for a woman? About this tall? Dark hair in a pony tail?"

Hyo-jung nodded. "Yeah, that sounds like her."

"Yeah, she kind of stood out. Anyway, she got a drink and headed for the chill-out room."

"Which is where?" Hyo-jung asked, looking around.

"It's in the back, but it can be kind of hard to find. Tell you what - let me grab us a couple of drinks and I'll show you the way."

Before Hyo-jung had a chance to react to this, Alex had stepped over to the bar and loudly ordered two double cosmos. She walked over to join him, carefully weaving though the crowd of dancing, inebriated men.

"You know," Alex said as he waited for the bartender to make their drinks, "this doesn't really seem like your kind of place. And not just because you're-" he gestured up and down at her.

"Oh, it's not my kind of place," she said. "Yoojung suggested it as a place where we could talk without ending up all over the lesbian grapevine." She started bouncing along to the dance music that was being played. "I can certainly see the attraction, though."

Just then the bartender set down their drinks. Alex picked them both up and handed one to Hyo-jung. "Now that we're properly fortified," he said, "the chill-out room is this way." He took her arm and led her through the crowd, past a number of different rooms with different lighting and different music, until he showed her into a dimly lit room with soft ambient music playing. Yoojung was sitting on a couch in the corner, drinking a beer. "Well, if I'm not mistaken, there's your friend," Alex said, "and now I must be going."

Hyo-jung waved good-bye to Alex as he left the room, then turned and crossed over to sit down by Yoojung. 

Yoojung smiled at her. "If I had known how big this place way, I would have given more specific instructions than just 'Meet me at the Bear Trap' - sorry about that."

"No problem," Hyo-jung said as she settled into the couch and took a sip of her drink. "Fortunately, you kind of stand out here, and I ran into a friend who was able to lead me to you."

"That is lucky. One of the bartenders told me to wait here and he'd send you back to me."

Hyo-jung laughed. "You did notice that this place has like four bars, right? What are the chances he'd find me? But anyway, we're both here now." She reached out and put her arm on the back of the couch behind Yoojung.

Yoojung didn't lean into her, but she didn't move away either. "I'm glad you came," she said. "You were in no shape to talk about this the other night, and I definitely wanted to talk before we did anything."

Hyo-jung nodded. "That makes sense."

"Not that I didn't want to do things to you," Yoojung said hastily. "I mean, with you. Or to you. Either one. Both. You know."

"Could it be?" Hyo-jung asked. "Could the unflappable Dr. Choi Yoojung actually be nervous?"

Yoojung took a large gulp of her beer. "Nervous? I've been walking on eggshells since Sunday night. What if you regretted everything when you woke up? What if you reported me to Dr. Lee? What if you didn't report me to Dr. Lee, but were mad at me because nothing happened that night?"

Hyo-jung reached out and stroked Yoojung's hair. "That is so sweet! I've never had anyone get that worked up over me. It's very flattering." She took a small sip of her drink and went on. "Obviously I didn't report you to Dr. Lee, and I'm not planning to. I did regret everything when I woke up, but only because I thought you would be mad at me for how I had acted and the things I had said when I was drunk. And yeah, I was kind of disappointed that nothing had happened that night."

Yoojung nodded. "That makes sense."

"So where are we now?" Hyo-jung asked, taking another sip of her drink.

Yoojung looked around the room, obviously thinking of how to say what she wanted to say. "Obviously I'm interested in you, or else I wouldn't have suggested we meet up here. I hope you're still interested in me now that you're sober."

Hyo-jung twirled a strand of Yoojung's hair around her finger. "I am. I definitely am."

Yoojung gulped and swallowed. "Here's the thing," she said, "I don't want to rush into anything. I just want to take our time and see what develops."

"What if I wanted to kiss you right now?" Hyo-jung asked. "Would that still count as 'taking our time'?"

Yoojung nodded. "That'd be okay," she said quietly.

Hyo-jung leaned forward and gently kissed Yoojung. She kissed her again, then leaned back.

Yoojung sat there, looking at her, blushing. She reached up and trailed her fingers down the side of Hyo-jung's neck. "I can't explain this. I just feel so. . ." 

Hyo-jung leaned her face against Yoojung's hand. "Why do you have to explain it. Why can't you just feel it?"

Yoojung gently caressed Hyo-jung's cheek. "It's just. . . it's only. . . I'm used to being in control of the situation, but I'm not in control of this. It frightens me, but I think I like it."

"Maybe you don't always have to be in control," Hyo-jung said, turning her head and planting a kiss in the palm of Yoojung's hand. "Maybe we just let whatever happens, happen, and go from there."

"I don't know how to do that," Yoojung protested. 

"I'm not always the smartest where relationships are concerned," Hyo-jung said, "but I've got a good feeling about us."

Yoojung looked up at her. "You do?"

Hyo-jung nodded. "I do," she said. She leaned down toward Yoojung, but rather than kissing her, she stopped halfway, waiting to see if Yoojung would come to her.

Yoojung leaned the rest of the way in and kissed Hyo-jung, then leaned further in and whispered in her ear "Let's get out of here."

"Where do you want to go?" Hyo-jung asked.

Yoojung shrugged. "Your place, my place, Timbuktu - I don't really care. I'm just feeling really out of place here and want to go somewhere else."

Hyo-jung nodded. "How about your place. I think we need some privacy to talk, and I think you'd feel less nervous in familiar surroundings."

"That sounds wonderful," Yoojung said with a smile. She drank the rest of her beer, then stood up, holding her hand out to Hyo-jung. Hyo-jung stood up, took her hand, and led the way out of the bar.


	19. Demands and requests

Seo-jeong was just taking a batch of apricot pastries out of the oven when she heard the kitchen doorbell ring. 

"That'll be So-Eun," she thought to herself, as she put down her oven mitts and went to open the door.

When she opened the door, though, she was surprised to see that it wasn't So-Eun - it was Nayeon, Suyeon's former boss and now a wanted criminal, and another woman a couple of inches taller than her who Seo-jeong didn't know, but who seemed to radiate danger. Before Seo-jeong had a chance to say anything, Nayeon nodded and the taller woman stepped forward, grabbed Seo-jeong's arm, and twisted it painfully behind her back.

"Now that I have your attention," Nayeon said, "you've got a choice. Are you going to come with me quietly, or am I going to have to have Seol Hyun knock you out?"

Seo-jeong struggled to free her arm, but found that she was unable to even budge it. Seol Hyun flexed it and twisted it slightly and Seo-jeong gasped as a jolt of pain shot up from her wrist to her shoulder. She wanted to scream, but managed not to. "I'll come quietly," she said, with more bravery than she really felt.

Nayeon nodded. "Good. I thought you'd see it that way. Seol Hyun, let's go."

Nayeon led the way out of the kitchen and up to a BMW with darkened windows. She opened the back door, watched as Seol Hyun shoved Seo-jeong into the car and climbed in after her, then got into the driver's seat and drove off.

* * *

Carrying a matcha latte in each hand, So-Eun turned the corner into the alley behind Seo-jeong's bakery just in time to see a black BMW pulling away from the bakery door. "That's odd," she thought, "must be an eccentric VIP coming in for their morning pastry." She'd worked in the restaurant industry and had seen the oddities that wealthy clients were able to get restaurants to accommodate. 

When she got to the back door of the bakery, she noticed that the door was standing slightly open. Using her foot, she pushed the door open a little more. "Seo-jeong?" she called out. Not hearing an answer, she called out again. Still not hearing an answer, she pushed the door the rest of the way open and went in. Looking around the kitchen, she didn't see Seo-jeong. She wasn't in the bathroom. She wasn't in the storefront. But she'd been here this morning - the oven was on and the pastries on the cooling rack were still warm. With a sinking feeling in her stomach, she remembered the black BMW.

"That's ridiculous," she told herself. "Why would someone want to kidnap Seo-jeong?" Then she remembered what Seo-jeong had told her the night before, about Suyeon's girlfriend being an undercover cop and about the massive takedown of organized crime that she'd been part of. "What if someone thinks they could use Seo-jeong to get to Suyeon?"

Being careful not to touch anything, she stepped out of the kitchen, put the lattes down on the loading dock. She took out her phone and called the police. "Hello? I think my friend's been kidnapped!" She told the officer who answered the phone about Seo-jeong being missing, and the black BMW, and Suyeon's involvement in the big organized crime bust. He said they'd look into it, but So-Eun wasn't entirely confident - the way he kept looking for alternative explanations told her he didn't really think Seo-jeong was in danger.

As soon as she got off the phone, with the police, she called Suyeon. She told Suyeon the whole story, then Suyeon handed the phone of Hae-rim, who had her tell the story again. "Just stay where you are," Hae-rim said. We're on our way."

Once she got off the phone with Hae-rim, So-Eun picked up one of the lattes and took a sip. It was getting cold, but at least drinking it gave her something to do while she waited.

* * *

Once the car was on the freeway, Seol Hyun let go of Seo-jeong's arm. This wasn't as much of a relief as it might have been, though, because she was just doing it so she'd have both hand free to blindfold her. She patted down Seo-jeong's pockets, taking her phone and her ID case.

"Now," Seol Hyun said quietly, "just lean back, fold your hands in your lap, and enjoy the ride."

Seeing no other choice but to comply, Seo-jeong did exactly as she was told. She couldn't tell how long they were driving or which direct they were driving - any hope she had of trying to keep track of that was foiled by Nayeon repeatedly getting on and off different freeways. Finally, when it seemed like the ride would never end, the car stopped and Nayeon turned off the motor. Seol Hyun grabbed Seo-jeong's arm, pulled her out of the car, and led her into a building. She shoved Seo-jeong into a chair and ripped off the blindfold. Seo-jeong blinked, squinting as her eyes tried to get used to the light. When she was finally able to look around, she saw that she was in a hotel room - one of the fancy suites that had a sitting room and then a separate bedroom. She was sitting in one of the chairs, and Seol Hyun was standing about six feet in front of her, between her and the door. In the next room, she could hear Nayeon moving around and talking - either on the phone or to someone who didn't respond, as Seo-jeong didn't hear another voice. Seo-jeong couldn't make out what Nayeon was saying, but since she'd been kidnapped, she assumed she was calling someone about a ranson, probably Suyeon.

Seo-jeong tried to calmly think this through. Even with the big severance payout that Suyeon had gotten, Suyeon didn't have enough money for it to be worthwhile for Nayeon to kidnap her. There had to be another angle.

* * *

Hae-rim nodded. "I'll see what I can do," she said. After waiting to hear the response to this, she ended the conversation and hung up the phone. She put the phone down on the table and looked over at Kim Hyung-soo. "She wants immunity," she said.

"Of course she does," Hyung-soo said. "And she thinks that this kidnapping is the way to go about getting it."

"But you'll find her, right?" Suyeon said. "You'll get Seo-jeong back?"

Hyung-soo winced and rubbed his head. "I'd love to be able to say yes, but Seoul is a big city. She could be anywhere."

"Can't you track her through her phone?" Suyeon asked. 

Hyung-Soo shook his head and laughed mirthlessly. "You've been watching too many police shows," he said. "At best, if we could get a warrant and if we could get a countermeasures team involved, we could locate which cell tower she's using, but that would still mean she could be anywhere in about a five-block radius." He sighed. "No, in this case, I'm afraid our best chance will be to give her what she wants. I'm going to go call the prosecutor's office and see if I can arrange it." He stepped into the storefront, from where they could her him talking but couldn't make out what he was saying.

Just then So-Eun's phone range. She rushed to answer it, then looked panicked upon hearing the voice at the other end of the call. She looked at Hae-rim. "You don't need me anymore, do you?" she asked. "I was supposed to be at work 15 minutes ago."

Hae-rim shook her head. "We don't need you to stay here - if we need you again, your number's in Suyeon's phone. Just do me a favor - take a cab. I wouldn't feel safe with you walking or taking the bus."

So-Eun nodded, thanked Hae-rim for her concern, then turned back to her phone conversation. "I'll be there in about 5 minutes," she said. "Yes, I've got a very good reason. . . No, a real reason. . . No, I - just let me go. I'll tell you when I get there." After saying good-bye to Hae-rim and Suyeon, she rushed out the back door.

"So now what?" Suyeon asked.

Hae-rim walked over at sat on the stool next to Suyeon's. "Now we wait," Hae-rim said. 

"But. . . we're going to be able to get Seo-jeong back, right?" Suyeon looked like she'd shatter if the answer wasn't yes.

Hae-rim nodded. "We should be able to. The prosecutor will probably grant the immunity deal, so long as Nayeon agrees to testify against everyone they want her to, then it's just a matter of making the pickup."

Suyeon nodded, folded her arms, and looked down at the loor. Hae-rim reached out and put her hand on Suyeon's shoulder. "We're doing everything we can," she said.

"I just hope it's enough," Suyeon said quietly.

* * *

Hyo-jung and Yoojung ended up walking into the ER at the same time, clocking in mere seconds apart. 

"Good morning, Dr. Choi! How are you today?" Hyo-jung said brightly. Actually she already knew how Yoojung was doing - they two of them had walked together from Yoojung's apartment to a spot a couple of blocks from the hospital where they'd split up so as to arrive at the hospital separately.

"I'm doing fine," Yoojung said with a smile, "now we'd better hurry and get ready - shift starts in a couple of minutes. 

She rushed off to the residents' room, while Hyo-jung turned the down the other corridor and went into the nurses' locker room. 

While Hyo-jung was getting changed, Yuna sought her out. "You're still coming to my place Friday, aren't you?"

Yuna's? Friday? Hyo-jung thought for a second. Oh yeah! The fashion snark party. "Yeah, I'll be there. Who else is coming?"

"So far it's just you and Doyeon," Yuna said. Her smile showed that the small turnout didn't trouble her in the last. "All of the other nurses I've asked so far have already had other plans." She fell silent for a moment. "Do you think Dr. Choi would come if I invited her?"

"Only one way to find out!" Hyo-jung replied. An evening at a party with Yoojung would be fun, but having to do it while pretending they weren't a couple would be frustrating. 

"I want to ask her, but she's so intimidating," Yuna said. "What if she thinks I'm being impertinent and disrespectful?"

Mentally making a note to tell Yoojung that apparently she was still intimidating to at least one of the junior nurses, Hyo-jung said "I could ask her, if you'd like."

"You'd do that?" Yua asked. She hugged Hyo-jung. "Thanks! You're the best. I'd better get to my station. See you!"

As Yuna left the locker room, Hyo-jung finished tying her shoes, then followed her out. Yoojung was already at Central Station, taking report from the day shift doctor, and Hyo-jung saw the day-shift nurse waiting to give her a report on the current state of the unit. Shifting her mind into work mode, she walked over and started receiving the day nurse's report.


	20. The Worst Day

As soon as So-eun had told Soo-kyung what had happened to Seo-Jeong, Soo-kyung got on the phone and called Suyeon. After a few minutes of calming Suyeon down, Soo-kyung said "Okay, well, when lunchtime rolls around, give me a call and I'll send lunch over for you." When she hung up the phone, Soo-kyung looked at So-eun. "She's going to forget to call," she said, "so at lunchtime I want you to prepare a lunch for them and deliver it."

So-Eun said she would, then scrubbed her hands and started getting her station ready for the day's cooking. "What should I send them?" she asked Soo-kyung. 

"An order to kimchi sujebi for Suyeon, plus two orders of each of today's special for Haerim and whoever else is with them."

"You got it, chef," So-eun said as she put on her hat and started chopping some herbs. After a few minutes, she noticed that Soo-kyung hadn't moved from the spot where she had been standing when she heard about Seo-jeong's kidnapping. "Are you okay, chef?" So-eun called out.

Soo-kyung looked at her. "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just a worried about Seo-jeong."

So-eun nodded. "You look really worried. How about I run the lunch service and you can go to your office and lie down?"

Soo-kyung shook her head. "I need the work to keep me from worrying. It gives me something else to think about."

"Well, if you change your mind. . ." So-eun said.

"You'll be the first to know," Soo-kyung responded.

Fortunately, despite So-eun being a little late and Soo-kyung being a little distracted, they managed to get the kitchen set up and ready for the lunch service just as the first orders started coming in. The initial rush of customers after the Mr. Foodie review had dropped off, but there were still enough orders to keep them busy from the start to the end of lunch service, without a break. Once the last lunch dish had gone out, So-eun looked at Soo-kyung. "Okay," she said, "you made it through lunch. Now how about I supervise the cleanup and changeover, and you go to your office and call Suyeon, see if there's been any news."

Soo-kyung wiped the sweat from her face with a kitchen towel, then tossed it in the hamper. "Sounds good," she said. "I'll let you know if there's anything new." Soo-kyung felt bad letting So-eun take this responsibility from her when they were both worried about Seo-jeong, but at the same time, she was grateful that she had an assistant who could take over things in situations like this. She'd known Seo-jeong since college and was closer to her than she was to most of her own family. She didn't know what she'd do if something happened to Seo-jeong.

* * *

About two hours into their shift, Yoojung and Hyo-jung finally had a moment of calm between patients. 

"You know," Hyo-jung said as she returned to Central Station with cups of coffee from the Starbucks in the hospital lobby, "some of the junior nurses are still terrified of you."

Yoojung looked shocked. "Of me? Really?" She took the cup of coffee that Hyo-jung was holding out to her, took a sip, and sighed contentedly. "Even after we all went out drinking?"

Hyo-jung nodded. "Even after that. Case in point: Shin Yuna is having a get together at her place tomorrow for people watch the Fashion Week coverage, make snarky comments, and drink soju. She wanted to ask you, but she was afraid you'd think she was forgetting her place. She looked so relieved when I offerd to ask her for you!"

"It sounds like I have to go," Yoojung said, "so I can be a friendly and non-threatening as possible."

"That would be good," Hyo-jung agreed.

"Who all is going to be there?" Yoojung asked.

"So far it's just her, me, and Doyeon," Hyo-jung said. "Either she picked the wrong night, or waited too late, or something, because all the other nurses said they had plans."

Yoojung looked thoughtful. "All the other nurses? You think maybe they don't like her for some reason?"

Hyo-jung shook her head. "I don't think so. At any rate, I've never heard anyone say anything bad about her. But now that you bring up the possibility, I'll do a little snooping and see what I can find out."

Yoojung nodded. "Sounds like a plan. And tell her I'll be there."

Hyo-jung smiled at her. "She'll be so happy."

Yoojung raised her eyebrows. "Will she be the only one?"

"Of course note," Hyo-jung said, scooting a little closer to Yoojung. "But you know we've got to. . . you know. Hospital policy?"

"Well, about that," Yoojung began, only to be brought up short by her phone ringing. "Hold that thought - I've got to take this."

Hyo-jung waited while Yoojung took the call. She couldn't tell what was going on from the half of the conversation that she could hear, but based on how serious Yoojung's demeanor immediately became, she knew it wasn't good. Finally, Yoojung hung up her phone and slipped it back into her pocket. "That was Ji Suyeon," she said. "Did you get to meet her friend Lee Seo-jeong who came to visit her when she came in for her last seizure?" Hyo-jung shook her head, and Yoojung continued. "Well, Seo-jeong has been kidnapped by a gangster who used to be Suyeon's boss. They're still in negotiations to try to get her back." Just then one of the lights on the status board lit up. "Can you go see what Mrs. Park in room 3 wants? If asks, tell her we're still waiting on her lab tests, but we should have them soon and then we can finalize her meds and send her home. I've got to call Doyeon and let her know about this."

Hyo-jung nodded. "Got it. And Yoojung - let me know if there's anything I can do."

Yoojung nodded. "You got it. Now go see to Mrs. Park."

* * *

Seo-jeong looked over at her captors, who were sitting in the kitchenette attached to the sitting room, drinking coffee. Nayeon had taken a gun out of her purse and it was sitting on the counter, ready to be snatched up at a moment's notice. Not that Seo-jeong was planning on trying anything - her arm was still sore from where it had been wrenched when they were grabbing her.

"Um... hey?" Seo-jeong called out tentatively. "Um. . . can you loosen the ties a little bit? My fingertips are going numb." They just looked at her. "Come on, it's not like I'm asking you to untie me, just to loosen things up a little bit so I can wiggle my fingers. Besides, I'm not going to try anything. You've got a gun, I'm sure I've only seen a fraction of the tips Seol-hyun has up her sleeve, and for all I know you've got half a dozen more people waiting outside the door."

Nayeon looked at Seol-hyun and nodded. Seol-hyun crossed the room, loosened Seo-jeong's bonds slightly, then went back to her place at the counter.

Just then Nayeon's phone rang. She picked it up, looked to see who it was, and answered it. "Hello?" She stood up and walked into the bedroom as she talked. Seo-jeong shivered. Hopefully Suyeon had been able to arrange whatever Nayeon wanted. She felt tears welling up in her eyes, but blinked rapidly to get rid of them - she didn't want to give these people the satisfaction of seeing her cry. Just then Nayeon came out of the bedroom. She turned to Seol-hyun and said "They agreed. Drive us back to the bakery.

Seol-hyun blindfolded Seo-jeong again, untied her from the chair, and led her back to the car. They put Seo-jeong in the back seat, and then she heard Nayeon say "You drive. Drop us off behind the bakery then go ditch the car somewhere. Here's your payment - and a bonus for your excellent work."

The ride back to the bakery was much quicker than the ride to the hotel had been - no switchbacks or attempts to hide their route. Soon the car stopped and Nayeon got out, then pulled Seo-jeong out after her. Nayeon led her through the alley to the back of the bakery, not running her into anything, but not being careful enough to keep from guiding her through a puddle and soaking her shoes. Then they stopped and Seo-jeong felt the gun press into her ribs. Nayeon called out. "Okay, we're here."

"Come inside, slowly." Seo-jeong had never been so happy to hear Haerim's voice before. Nayeon led her inside. Seo-jeong reveled in the familiar smells of her kitchen and only the presence of the gun against her ribs kept her from being completely happy.

Suddenly they stopped. "Let me see the immunity agreement," Nayeon said. Seo-jeong heard the shuffling of paper, then Nayeon said "No, you stay there. Send Suyeon over with it." Seo-jeong heard the sound of footsteps crossing the room, then a silence that seemed to stretch out forever, punctuated only by the sounds of Suyeon turning the page as Nayeon read the agreement. Finally, Nayeon seemed satisfied. "That's everything I asked for. How do you want to handle this?"

"You put your gun down," Haerim said, "then stand there until I put the cuffs on you." 

Seo-jeong heard Haerim cross the room, then a metallic clank that must have been the handcuffs being locked. After another minute, Haerim finally reached up and pulled off her blindfold. Seo-jeong blinked against the brightness of the light and tears started running down her face. As she took a step forward, Suyeon rushed forward and hugged her. Behind her, she could hear Haerim talking on the radio, arranging for officers to come transport Nayeon to the jail, but she didn't care. She was free again. She hugged Suyeon, tears running down her face. "How did you even know I was missing?" she asked.

"So-eun came by to surprise you with coffee this morning," Suyeon said. "She remembered seeing a black BMW leaving your alleyway and put 2 and 2 together. She called the police station, and when they didn't seem inclined to do anything, she called me and told Haerim about it. Haerim's been on the case since minutes after you were grabbed."

"What time is it?" Seo-jeong asked. When Suyeon told her, she said "I wanted to call So-Eun, but I can't call now - she'll be in the middle of dinner service."

Suyeon laughed as she handed Seo-jeong a phone. "This time, I don't think she'll mind."


	21. Aftermath and future plans

The kitchen phone at Chez Lua rang. Soo-kyung reached over from the expediter's station and answered it. "Seo-jeong! It's so good to hear you! . . . But you're okay? . . . Good. Can you have Suyeon bring you over hear so I can see you're okay and feed you some dinner? . . . Great. And bring Haerim if she's free. . . Okay, see you in a few." She hung up the phone. "So-eun!" she called out. "Seo-jeong is okay! She's on her way over. You've got the rest of the evening off, so you can sit at the owner's table with her and eat dinner on me."

So-eun was so stunned she almost dropped her knife. "Really? She's okay? And I get the evening off?"

Soo-kyung nodded. "It was thanks to you noticing that BMW, calling the police, and then calling Suyeon when the police tried to brush you off that we knew what happened to Seo-jeong and were able to get her back to quickly. As far as I'm concerned, you're a hero today." She walked around to So-eun's station and gave her a hug. "Now put up your knives and get out there before I change my mind." She grinned to she So-eun she wasn't serious.

So-eun washed her knives, put them in her knife roll, and stashed them in her locker. She was checking her chef's whites for spatters as she walked through the kitchen. As she passed by Soo-kyung, she said "How do I look?"

Soo-kyung looked her up and down. "Flawless, as always. I swear, I have no idea how you keep your uniforms so clean even during a hectic shift. Besides, Seo-jeong's not going to care what you're wearing - she's just going to be happy to see you."

So-eun looked hopeful. "You think so?"

Soo-kyung smirked and nodded. "After today, I know so. Now grab yourself a glass of wine and go sit down at the owner's table and wait for her."

Hyo-jung and Yoojung were just finishing the discharge paperwork for Mrs. Park when the phone rang. Hyo-jung picked up, only to have the voice on the other end ask her if Yoojung was there. "She's right here," she said and handed the phone to Yoojung.

Yoojung covered the mouthpiece of the phone and shot Hyo-jung a questioning look. "Who is it?" she mouthed.

"I think it's Ji Suyeon," Hyo-jung said quietly.

"Hello?" Yoojung said into the phone. "Suyeon! You've got news? . . . She is! That's great! . . . Well, I'm sure she's tired tonight - I'll come see her tomorrow. . . Oh, I'm so glad she's back safely." She hung up the phone.

"Apparently it's good news?" Hyo-jung said with a grin. 

Yoojung nodded, her smile stretching from ear to ear. "Seo-jeong is back safely and they've got her kidnapper behind bars, at least for now. You want to come with me to check on her tomorrow?"

Hyo-jung cocked her head to the side. "Do you think I should?"

Yoojung nodded. "It'll be good for you to have a chance to meet all my friends. None of whom work at the hospital." She put special emphasis on the last sentence.

"Okay," Hyo-jung said. "How about you decide what time we'll go while I go discharge Mrs. Park? Are there any other orders you need to add?"

Yoojung quickly read through Mrs. Park's discharge orders. "No, that looks about right. While we're having some downtime, I'm going to call Doyeon and let her know that Seo-jeong is back safely."

Dinner was over. As they were all getting ready to leave, So-Eun got Seo-jeong's attention. "If you want, I'd like to walk you home," she said quietly.

Seo-jeong nodded, a smile spreading over her face. "Sure!" Getting Suyeon and Haerim's attention, Seo-jeong told them to head on back to the apartment, that So-eun would be walking her home." After repeated assurances that she'd be okay, and she'd keep her phone in her hand, and they'd stick to well-lighted areas, Suyeon and Haerim left.

Seo-jeong turned back to So-eun. "Is there anything you need to do here before we leave?" she asked.

So-eun nodded. "I've got to go back to the locker room to get my knife roll, and then we can leave."

Later as they were walking down the sidewalk, Seo-jeong with her phone in her hand, So-eun with her knife roll tucked under her arm, Seo-jeong asked "So what is it with you chefs and your knives? Why don't you leave your knives in your locker at Chez Lua?"

"Well," So-eun began, "without my knives, I can't work, so I don't want to take the chance of anything happening to them. Also, my knives are probably the most expensive thing I own, so I want to keep them safe."

Seo-jeong raised an eyebrow skeptically. "Really? Your knives are the most expensive thing you own? They're knives! How much can they cost?"

"My chef's knife alone was 300 thousand won," So-eun said, "so once you add up all the different knives I need, I've probably got upwards of 2 million won of cutlery in my roll."

Seo-jeong's jaw dropped. "I had no idea!" 

They walked in silence for a while, then Seo-jeong said "But I'm sure you didn't ask to walk me home so you could tell me about your knives. You looked like you had something you wanted to say to me that you couldn't say in front of Haerim and Suyeon. So what is it?"

So-eun laughed nervously. "You don't waste any time to do you? I like that. Anyway, I don't know if this is the right time to ask this, after everything you've been through today, but Haerim did say you should try to get back to your regular life as soon as possible, so here goes: I've got Monday evening off. How would you like to go out for dinner Monday night, like as an actual date, not just two friends hanging out?"

"I like the sounds of that," Seo-jeong said. She reached out and took So-eun's hand in hers. After a short pause, she added "So since you work in the industry, I'm guessing you had someplace in mind?"

So-eun nodded. "I do, but I'd like it to be a surprise, if you're cool with that."

"Just so long as it's not O Tigre - that is way too much pressure for a first date!" Seo-jeong smiled.

So-eun laughed. "Not to worry - I've heard the story of Soo-kyung's strike-out when taking Suyeon to O Tigre. No, the place I have in mind is much more low-key. The dress code is smart casual. Shall I pick you up at 7?"

"That sounds great," Seo-jeong said. She stopped walking. "This is my building. I would invite you up, but after the day I've had, I just want to crash - hope you don't mind."

"No, that's fine," So-eun said. "I've got to get to sleep too. I've got another long day tomorrow."

They stood in front of Seo-jeong's building for a long moment, each trying to figure out how to say good-bye.c Finally, Seo-jeong took the lead. "Well?" she asked. "Aren't you going to try to kiss me?"

"I was trying to decide if I should," So-eun said.

"Let me settle that for you," Seo-jeong said with a smile, "you should. After today, I really know how previous life is and how little time we can afford to waste." She stepped forward, wrapped her arms around So-Eun, and kissed her gently. She then stepped back and headed into her buildig. "I imagine I'll see you around before Monday, but if I don't, I'll see you Monday at 7."

"Monday at 7," So-eun agreed. She watched until Seo-jeong had gone into her building and the door had closed behind her before she turned and walked off toward her own apartment. She imagined she could still feel Seo-jeong's lips pressed against hers. 


	22. A Night Out

Yuna heard the doorbell and went to open the door. Standing outside was Dr. Choi - Yoojung, she mentally corrected herself - carrying a large canvas shopping bag with a bottle of something sticking out the top.

"I told you you didn't have to bring anything," Yuna said.

"I know," Yoojung said as she stepped into Yuna's apartment. "But you said we'd be drinking soju, and that just doesn't seem fancy enough for the fashion awards, so I packed up most of my bar cart and we can have fancy cocktails while we make fun of the show. I even brought paper umbrellas!"

Yuna clapped her hands together. "That sounds great! I-" Just then the doorbell rang. "Hold that thought!"

Yuna rushed over to the door and found Hyo-jung and Doyeon waiting outside, each holding a cardboard box. "What's all this?" Yuna asked.

"We didn't want you to spend the whole night in the kitchen," Doyeon explained, "so we stopped by Chez Lua and Seo-jeong's Pastries and got some snacks for tonight."

Yuna just barely managed to stop herself from leaning in and kissing Doyeon. "Oh, that's so sweet of you! And Yoojung brought the stuff to make fancy drinks!'

"And the first batch will be ready by the time they unpack those boxes," Yoojung called out from the kitchen, barely audible over the sound of ice in the cocktail shaker.

Within a few minutes they had snacks and drinks and were ready to start snarking about the first arrivals on the red carpet.

"Ugh, that dress is not flattering on her!" Doyeon said as one of her favorite actresses came on-screen.

"That dress wouldn't be flattering on anybody!" Hyo-jung chimed in.

"I don't know," Yoojung said. "I think you'd be kind of cute in it Hyo-jung!"

Hyo-jung looked over at Yoojung and was once again struck with how sparkly Yoojung's eyes were. She started to lean in and kiss her, but remembered where she was at the last second, and leaned over and stole a mini quiche from her plate instead. "That was close," she whispered in Yoojung's ear as she sat up.

A couple of hours and several rounds of drinks later, Yoojung came back from the kitchen with some sort of bright blue drinks on a tray. 

"Oooh! Those are pretty!" Yuna said, weaving slightly in her chair. "What are those?"

"This," Yoojung said, handing Yuna one of the drinks, "is a royal blue. It's cranberry juice, lime juice, vodka, and blue curacao."

"I've never seen a drink this color," Doyeon said, as Yoojung handed her one of the drinks.

Yoojung handed a drink to Hyo-jung, then sat down on the loveseat next to her. She leaned over and kissed Hyo-jung on the cheek.

Yuna noticed this kiss, and by making eye contact with Doyeon across the room, confirmed that she wasn't the only one. Doyeon took a sip of her drink and put it down on the table. 

"I think we need to switch to virgin cocktails," Doyeon said. She stood up and grabbed her glass and Yuna's. "Yoojung, can you come show me how to make some good mocktails?"

"What?" Yoojung had been absorbed in something Hyo-jung had been saying and just caught the end of what Doyeon was saying. "Mocktails? Uh, sure. Let's go."

Once Doyeon and Yoojung were alone in the kitchen, they dumped out the drinks and started washing the glasses. "What's with cutting us all off so early?" Yoojung asked. "You usually drink better than that."

"You usually drink better than that," Doyeon said. "Once you sober up you'll thank me for this."

Yoojung looked confused. "What do you mean?" She picked up a towel and started drying the glasses.

Doyeon's eyes got huge. "What do I mean?" she asked incredulously. "What do I - are you trying to get yourself reported to Dr. Lee?"

Yoojung looked even more confused. "Dr. Lee?" 

Doyeon leaned in and whispered fiercely. "You just kissed Hyo-jung! Are you actively trying to get brought up on a sexual harassment charge?"

Yoojung finally understood what Doyeon was talking about, and decided to have a little fun with it. "I don't think Hyo-jung would report me."

"Don't think. . . " Doyeon sputtered. "Hyo-jung is the most by-the-book nurse in the entire department. If you don't believe she'll report you, just fuck around and find out!"

Yoojung finished pouring cranberry juice, lime juice, and orange bitters into the cocktail shaker, put the lid on it and started shaking. "Thank you for your concern, Doyeon," she said as she poured the drinks into the glasses. "I think everything will be okay, though."

Doyeon rolled her eyes. "I can't force you to do anything," she said, "but I had to warn you. I'm done now."

Yoojung smiled at her. "Thank you, Doyeon. Seriously." She picked up two of the drinks, motioned for Doyeon to take the other two, and led the way back to the living room.

"Took you guys long enough," Hyo-jung said as Yoojung handed her a drink and sat down beside her. "And what's up with cutting us off this early into the evening?"

Doyeon glanced at Yuna, then looked at Hyo-Jung. "Just wanted to make sure nobody did anything they might regret."

"Ah," Hyo-jung said. She leaned over toward Doyeon. "Like wake up in Yuna's bed, uncertain of what happened?" she asked quietly.

"Something like that," Doyeon responded.

Hyo-jung took a sip of her drink. "I can tell there's no alcohol in this," she said, "but otherwise it tastes the same."

"I hoped it would," Yoojung said. "I wasn't planning on making mocktails tonight or I'd have looked up some recipes. Glad you like it!"

Doyeon exchanged smiles with Yuna - apparently they had managed to get Yoojung out of trouble.

"Ooh!" Yoojung pointed at the TV. "Can you guys imagine Yuna in that dress?"

Doyeon turned to see. The dress in question was made of silver lame, with a plunging neckline, an open back, and a long slit up one side. She could very easily imagine Yuna in that dress, and the thought excited her. She swallowed nervously and turned to look at Yoojung.

Yoojung smiled at Doyeon, then took a sip of her drink.

"I don't know," Yuna said. "I don't know if I could pull that off."

"I'll bet Doyeon could help you pull it off," Yoojung said, quietly enough that only Doyeon could hear.

Several more exchanges like this had Doyeon looking nervously at Hyo-jung and angrily at Yoojung. Finally, Yoojung started laughing, causing Doyeon to look at her in disbelief.

"What's so funny?" Doyeon asked through gritted teeth.

Yoojung looked quickly at Hyo-jung then turned back to Doyeon. "It was so sweet of you to be concerned about me earlier, but it was totally unnecessary."

"I saw what I saw," Doyeon said calmly.

Yoojung nodded. "And if you'd let the night go on the way it was going, you might have seen more."

'But-" Doyeon and Hyo-jung both interjected at once.

Hyo-jung stood up. "I'd better be going."

Yoojung grabbed her hand. "No, please stay. I know exactly what I'm doing, and I guarantee it's 100% safe."

Hyo-jung looked confused. "How can you guarantee that?"

"Because Doyeon's dating Yuna," Yoojung said calmly.

Doyeon stood up, glaring down at Yoojung. "What the hell are you doing?"

Yoojung smiled calmly up at her. "That's how I know you won't tell Dr. Lee that Hyo-jung and I are dating." 

Hyo-jung looked over at Doyeon. "You told me you only went out with her that one time, after the night we all went out drinking!" 

Doyeon shrugged. "It's easier to keep a secret when fewer people know about it."

Yuna laughed. "So we're all drinking mocktails right now because Doyeon thought Yoojung was getting drunk and snaking on Hyo-jung!" She ran into the kitchen, came back with the bottle of vodka and poured a generous splash into everyone's glass.

Hyo-jung sat down and took a sip of her newly fortified drink. "So. . . it wasn't a coincidence that Yuna asked for the same weekend off next month that Doyeon is going to be off!"

Yuna laughed. "No, it's wasn't." She glanced over at Doyeon, who nodded, before going on. "Doyeon and I are going to Paris!"

"Ooh la la," Yoojung said, "how romantic!"

"Have you ever been to Paris?" Hyo-jung asked.

Yuna shook her head no.

"I went with some friends a couple of years ago," Hyo-jung said. "I still have my guidebook with all the notes I made. If you want, you can borrow it to help plan your trip."

"That'd be great! Thanks!" Yuna said, a big smile plastered on her face.

"I'm still mad at you, Yoojung," Doyeon said with the fiercest look she could muster. "How long were you planning to sit there knowing everything and not letting the rest of us in on it. I was so nervous about Hyo-jung possibly finding out about me and Yuna-"

"And I was nervous about Yuna and Doyeon finding out about us," Hyo-jung said. After a pause, she looked over at Yuna, who was sitting quietly with a contented smile on her face. "Weren't you worried about me or Yoojung finding out about you and Doyeon?"

Yuna shook her head. "No. . . I already knew that Yoojung knew, because Doyeon had told me, and I figured you already knew, because you seem to know everything that's going on around the ER."

Hyo-jung laughed. "As flattering as that is, this time I had absolutely no clue."

"That's good," Doyeon said. "If you had no clue, then Dr. Lee almost certainly doesn't have a clue either."

"But since everyone here already knows," Yuna said, aiming a pout in Doyeon's direction, "how long do you plan to leave me here unkissed?"

Yoojung and Hyo-jung made a point of looking at the screen as Doyeon leaned across the table and kissed Yuna.

* * *

Dr. Lee Ji-Eun looked around her apartment in discontent. She threw the medical journal she had been reading down on the coffee table. "I've had it with doing what I need to do," she said to herself. "Tonight I'm going to do what I want to do." She went to her bedroom, put on a little black dress, grabbed a clutch purse and headed out.

She walked a couple of blocks down from her apartment building and turned into a bar at random. The electronica pouring out of the sound system washed over her as she walked through the door. She found a seat at the bar and ordered a shot of Jack Daniels and a Coke. 

"Let me guess," the guy next to her said. "You're a doctor."

Ji-Eun turned to look at him. She had to look up to see his face - he was a good six inches taller than her. He was handsome enough, but there was a hardness about his eyes. "How could you tell?" she asked.

"Well," he said, "you're in this bar, so you must live somewhere around here - no one travels across the city to come to a place like this. Living this close to the hospital, you're probably either a doctor or a nurse. Nurses tend make a girlier order - a cosmo or dirty martini. A shot of brown liquor is something a doctor would order." He smiled down at her, his smile slightly asymmetrical in a way that wasn't unpleasant.

"It all sounds so simple when you put it together like that," she said. "I'm Dr. Lee Ji-Eun."

"Pleased to meet you," he said. "I'm Kim Sunggu."

"Not a doctor," she said. "Let me guess - lawyer?"

He shook his head, chuckling softly. "No. I'm a consultant."

"Consultant? Sounds mysterious," she said.

"Nothing so interesting I'm afraid," he said as he signalled the bartender for another round. "I keep track of what wants what and put them in touch with the people who have it."

"So like a business consultant," she said.

"Something like that," he said with a smile. He took a sip of his beer. "Care to dance?" he asked.

She downed her second shot of whiskey, took his hand and led him to the dance floor. He was a good dancer - had a good sense of rhythm, didn't use the dance as an excuse to cop a feel. She couldn't remember when she'd last had such fun dancing. 

After a few songs, he apparently saw someone on the other side of the bar. "Why don't you go grab us another round of drinks?" he asked. "I see someone I've got to talk to for a second - business never stops - but I'll catch you in just a minute."

Nodding her agreement, she headed to the bar while he headed to the other side of the club. As she waited for the bartender to pour their drinks, out of the corner of her eye she saw an umbrella being hung on the bar next to where she was standing. She looked over and saw Baek Myung-han. 

"You need to leave," he said, his face serious.

She couldn't help laughing. "Excuse me? I need to leave?"

He nodded. "Trust me."

"Trust you? I went out to dinner with you once! That doesn't give you right to come in here and tell me I need to leave." She downed her shot and gestured to the bartender for another.

"What do you know about the guy you were dancing with?" he asked.

"His name's Kim Sunggu. He's a business consultant. He's a good dancer. I just met him tonight," she said, becoming increasingly irritated with this encounter.

"Business consultant?" he laughed. "That's rich! He's a criminal - a Jopok. He used to be a detective, but he discovered that playing for the other side paid better."

She glanced across the club, where Sunggu was engaged in an intense conversation with an older man in a dark suit.

"How do you know all this?" she asked Myung-han.

"He and I used to be friends," he said. "Then he turned to crime and I wouldn't look the other way." He looked around. "You didn't tell him where you live, did you?"

"No," Ji-Eun said, gradually coming to believe what Myung-han was saying. "But I told him my name and he knows I live around here."

"Well, come on," Myung-han said. "If you're gone by the time he gets back, maybe he'll just lose interest and forget about you."

Ji-Eun looked from Myung-han to Sunggu. A chill ran down her spine - something definitely wasn't right about this situation. One of these guys was lying, and she knew Myung-han a little better. "Let's go," she said. 


	23. A bad day and a good night

Yim Young-jun looked up from the car he was repairing just in time to see Alex stagger into the garage. Alex was a mess. His face was swollen and covered in blood, his shirt was ripped, his helmet was missing, and the front wheel of his bike was bent nearly double. "What the hell?" Young-jun asked.

"Can I use your phone?" Alex asked. "Mine was shattered by one of my assailants."

"Yeah," Young-jun said, pointing to the phone on the wall as he came out from behind the car. "You gotta call the cops?"

Alex shook his head. "I've gotta call my agency and tell them I'll be late with morning's deliveries."

"Alex," Youg-jun said as he took off his nitrile gloves and threw them in the trash, "you need to call the police."

Alex held up a finger to signal Young-jun to be quiet for a second. "Hey Somi. It's Kim Alexsander. Can you put on the big board that I'm going to be late with my morning deliveries and I'm not going to be available for any afternoon deliveries." He paused, evidently listening to the other half of the conversation. "No, I should have them all there by noon, but I can't guarantee anything better than that." Another pause, followed by a rueful laugh. "Yeah, extenuating circumstances. That's one way to put it. Some extenuating circumstances attacked me and my bike with a baseball bat this morning." . . . "No, the deliveries are fine - I was able to throw my bag into a hedge before things got too violent." . . . "Thanks Somi. You're a lifesaver. Talk to you later."

After he hung up the phone, Young-jun asked "Now will you call the police?"

Alex shook his head. "As you're aware, I'm a gay man. In what world would coming to the police's attention benefit me?"

"But there's that new hate crime law!" Young-jun protested.

"That law is totally useless," Alex said, pausing to spit some blood down the floor drain. "Even if the police did find the guys who did this to me, all they have to do is say they were beating me up for some other reason and - presto! - no hate crime. No, if I could use your bathroom to wash my face, I'll have just enough to time to take a bus downtown and make these deliveries before I'm much later than I already am."

"Of course," Young-jun said, pointing toward the bathroom.

"Oh, and can I stash my bike her until about one? Assholes stole my U-lock so now I don't even have a way to keep what's left of my bike safe until I can get to the shop this afternoon."

"Yeah, sure," Young-jun said as he moved the bike to the back of the garage.

"Thanks, man," Alex said, stopping and putting his hand on Young-jun's shoulder. "I don't know what I'd do today if you weren't here."

Young-jun reached up and put his hand on top of Alex's. "I just wish I could do more. If you won't call the police, will you at least go to the ER and get checked out?"

Alex shook his head. "I've got to make my morning deliveries, then I've got to fix my bike so I can work tomorrow," he said as he made his way to the bathroom.

"After you fix your bike," Young-jun called out, "then will you go to the ER and get yourself patched up?"

Alex turned around, drying his face with a handful of shop rags. He saw the concern on Young-jun's face and said "Fine. Then I'll go to the ER. Okay?"

Young-jun shook his finger at Alex. "I'm going to hold you to that." After a moment's silence, Young-Jun had an idea. "You want to borrow my car to do your deliveries?"

Alex shook his head. "That's really decent of you to offer, but parking downtown is a huge problem - that's the entire reason bicycle messengers are a thing. By the time I found someplace to park at each stop, it would have actually been faster to take a bus downtown and just hoof it. Beside, I don't have a driver's license."

"But you do know how to drive, right?" Young-jun asked.

"I took driver's ed, so I could drive in a pinch, so long as I didn't have to parallel park," Alex said with a laugh. "But anyway, I've gotta be off to catch the bus. See you this afternoon!"

* * *

Lee Ji-eun knocked on the door to Baek Myung-han's office. She was about to turn and walk away, assuming he must be out, when the door opened.

"Dr. Lee!" he said. "What a pleasant surprise!" He backed away from the door and gestured for her to come into the office.

"I was about to go out for lunch and realized I wanted some company," she said with a smile. "Are you by any chance free for lunch?"

"Sure thing!" he said. "Just let me grab my phone and my umbrella. Did you have someplace in mind?"

Fifteen minutes later they were sitting at a table outside Choy's New Orleans-style Po-Boys, waiting for their sandwiches to be delivered.

"Would you believe I've never eaten here before?" Myung-han said. "I've passed by it before, but I didn't even know what a po-boy was."

"You're in for a treat," Ji-Eun said. "There's no other sandwich quite like this. I'd come here just for the bread - I always ask Mr. Choy where he gets his bread, but he says it's a secret and won't tell me."

Just then the waitresses brought their sandwiches - shrimp for her, roast beef for him - along with a stack of extra napkins.

"I think I'm going to need those," he said, indicating the napkins. "I've never seen a sandwich like this before." He had just been expecting roast beef, maybe a little lettuce, in a baguette. Instead, it was roast beef and gravy in a bread that looked like a baguette on steroids - he could barely get his hands around it.

"If I knew you'd never been here, I would have warned you," she said with a laugh.

"Oh, I don't mind," he said. "I'm just hoping I don't end up wearing this gravy back to the office this afternoon." He laughed at this and she joined in. 

They both were silent for a while at they started eating. Long before they finished the sandwiches, they were too full to eat anymore. The waitress showed her skill by showing up with to-go boxes at just the right moment.

"That was really a delicious sandwich," he said as they were walking back to the hospital, "but I really wish you would have let me pay for mine."

"That's my way of saying thank-you," she said.

He looked at her inquisitively.

"For the other night, when you warned me away from Kim Sung-gu," she elaborated.

"Oh, think nothing of it," he said. "Like I told you in the coffee shop afterward, I just didn't want to see anything bad happen to you."

"Well, it was much appreciated," she said. "A woman alone in the city can't be too careful, you know."

"I'm sure that, as intelligent as you are, you would have seen through him before too much longer anyway," he said.

"Now you're just being modest," she said. "It's perfectly possible that something could have happened in the time it took me to figure out. Abusers are good at hiding who they are."

"I'm just glad I happened to be there," he said. By this time they were just walking into the hospital. He was about to ask her to dinner when the intercom came on "Dr. Lee Ji-Eun to the Emergency Room stat!"

"I've gotta go," she said, already accellerating in the direction of the ER. "See you around."

* * *

Alex looked up as another doctor came into his exam room.

"Another doctor?" he said. "I didn't think I was that bad off!"

"I'm Dr. Lee Ji-eun, the supervisor of the ER" the doctor replied. "Dr. Choi tells me she has reason to believe that your injuries are the result of a hate crime, so I have to come take a report."

"Also," Dr. Choi piped up, "I still think you have broken ribs and need a chest x-ray."

Alex couldn't shake the feeling that he'd seen Dr. Choi somewhere before. But right now he didn't have time to think about it - he had to deal with this official report.

"It's really nothing," he said quickly. "Random assault. Maybe a botched robbery, I don't know."

Dr. Lee smiled at him. "You don't want to get the police involved, is that it?"

"I just don't think it'll do any good," Alex said. "What's to stop them from changing their story?"

"Well, for starters, you'll have two doctors and a nurse testifying that you believed it was a hate crime, if you did believe it was a hate crime," Dr. Lee said. She turned to Dr. Choi. "Which nurse is caring for Mr. Kim here?"

"That would be Shin Yuna," Dr. Choi responded quickly.

"And she's the one who made the official report?" Dr. Lee asked.

Dr. Choi shook her head. "Nurse Noh made the official report. She said she has reason to believe Mr. Kim is a member of a protected class and, given his condition, it only made sense to report this as a possible hate crime."

"Can you call her in here, please?" Dr. Lee asked.

Dr. Choi nodded, went out into the hallway, and came back a couple of minutes later with 

"Hyo-jung!" Alex said. That's where he had seen Dr. Choi before - she was the woman Hyo-jung was meeting up with at the Bear Trap.

"Hi Alex," Hyo-jung said. "Wish I was seeing you again under more pleasant circumstances."

"You and me both," he said. "Do you really think this report will do any good?"

"I do," she said. "We've had to go testify before and it's always helped. Plus, Dr. Choi has as contact in the police who can see to it that your case is routed to the proper officers."

Alex sighed and looked up at the ceiling, then looked over at Dr. Lee. "Okay, Dr. Lee. Yes, I think it was a hate crime. I'll make a report to you."

"Very good," said Dr. Lee. She pulled her phone out of her labcoat pocket and laid it down on the bedside table. "We'll need to tape this. Do you consent to that?"

Alex nodded. "If I'm gonna do this, might as well do it right."

"Okay, let me start the recording," Dr. Lee said. She tapped the phone a couple of times, then said "This is Dr. Lee Ji-eun, taking a hate crime report from patient Kim Alexsander. Witnessing are Dr. Choi Yoojung and nurse Noh Hyo-jung. Mr. Kim, will you tell us in your own words what happened to you this morning?"

"Sure," Alex began, "I had just delivered some samples to Astro Labs and was leaving to make my next delivery when. . ."

* * *

Seo-jeong jumped when the doorbell rang, even though she had been expecting it. She turned to Suyeon and asked "Do I look okay?"

Suyeon assured her that she did and shooed her toward the door. Seo-jeong opened the door and admitted Kang So-eun, who handed her a bouquet of flowers.

'For me?" Seo-jeong asked, too flustered to avoid asking this obvious question. "Let me put these in some water."

While Seo-jeong was in the kitchen, Suyeon leaned over to So-eun and said "She's a little bit nervous, just warning you."

So-Eun nodded her understanding, but didn't have time to say anything because Seo-jeong was coming back into the room with the flowers in a vase.

"Are you ready to go?" So-eun asked.

Seo-jeong nodded. "You never did tell me where we're going," she said.

"Do you want me to tell you?" So-eun asked, "Or do you want it to be a surprise?"

Seo-jeong glanced over at Suyeon and then said "Well, it's been a secret this long, so let's let it be a surprise."

"Okay," So-eun said, "but we need to leave now if we're going to make our reservation."

Seo-jeong grabbed her purse and left with So-eun. Twenty minutes later, they were sitting at a table at Margarita's.

"I've never had tapas before," Seo-jeong said. "What is it exactly?"

"Basically it's Spanish pub food," So-eon said. "Ham, olives, meatballs, cheeses - basically anything that goes well with a Spanish wine."

Seo-jeong looked over the menu, which listed dozens of dishes. "How do you even know what to order?"

"Oh, I don't," So-eun said with a laugh. "A lot of tapas is seasonal, so I just order a variety, chef's choice."

"I would think that since you're a chef, you'd want to be in a control of what you eat," Seo-jeong said.

So-eun shook her head. "Because I'm a chef, I know how much knowledge goes into a menu, so I'm content to put myself in the hands of people who are thinking about this food every day."

Seo-jeong nodded. "That makes sense."

They sat and snacked and chatted their way through the remainder of the evening and into the night. After a little after 10, Seo-jeong yawned.

"I'm sorry," she said. "It's just that I'm usually up at 4 in the morning to start baking."

"Then I guess I'd better get you home," So-eun said as she signalled the waitress to bring the bill.

When they got back to Seo-jeong's apartment, So-eun leaned in and kissed her good-bye.

"Don't you want to come in?" Seo-jeong asked.

"Do you want me to come in? I thought you were tired," So-eun said.

"I am tired," Seo-jeong admitted, "but I don't want this night to end."

"What about Suyeon?" So-eun asked.

"By now she'll have heard us out here on the doorstep and gone back to her room," Seo-jeong said, opening the door. "Why don't you come in for a little while?"

"I'd be delighted," So-eun said, following Seo-jeong into her apartment.


End file.
